


Eavesdropping

by muggle95



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Conan and Kaito know each others' identities already, Friendship, Gen, Hakuba is suspicious, I think Hakuba's pov is most common, POV Multiple, Snipers, and Conan might not get any pov time, badly kept secrets, it should be clear whose perspective it is though, major character injury (no death), no ships yet, searching for Pandora, those darn detectives notice too much and it interrupts the narration
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-18
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-04-21 07:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 23,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4821089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muggle95/pseuds/muggle95
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hakuba Saguru is sure that Edogawa Conan is too friendly with everyone's favorite thief. But when he tries to investigate, he finds himself in the middle of something bigger than he could have imagined.</p><p>Rated T for mild language and canon-typical violence/occasional mention of blood or gore</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

_Two months prior…_

Saguru’s heartbeat pounded in his ears as he sprinted up the stairs. His footsteps should have echoed off the concrete surrounding him, but long practice kept them nearly silent. He grabbed the handrail and pivoted across the landing to the next flight of stairs, slowing both his steps and his breathing so he could tiptoe up the direct path to the rooftop door. He climbed the stairs as silently as possible, preparing to slam the door open and hopefully surprise the Kaitou Kid before the thief could make his usual airborne getaway.

Saguru was two stairs from the top and the door when he could finally hear the voice on the other side. Kid’s booming showman’s voice was unmistakable.

“Well, Meitantei, I believe that’s my cue. Be a dear and return this to Nakamori for me, would you?”

Saguru slammed the door open as he had planned, even though he knew it was too late. As he stepped through, he saw Kid standing with his toes over the edge of the roof. Kid glanced over his shoulder and his usual manic grin spread a tiny bit wider.

“You’re too late tonight, Tantei-san. Try again next time.” Without waiting for a response, Kid launched himself forward and away from the building. After 3.52 seconds, Saguru could see the large white triangle of Kid’s hang glider illuminated in the bright moonlight, and knew the thief would make a safe getaway again.

“I’ll catch you next time, Kid!” Saguru shouted, more from habit than conviction. He sighed heavily, and turned to the other figure on the rooftop.

Edogawa Conan was standing there. That wasn’t surprising - the mysterious seven-year-old was one of the most adept at keeping up with the thief, better than most of the Task Force officers. Right now, the child looked mildly uncomfortable - he was holding the Princesses’ Whisper, the large diamond that had been the target of tonight’s heist, carefully in front of him so even his jacket didn’t touch the gem.

The child held up the jewel as he raised his hand in greeting. “Hakuba-niichan! I didn’t get here much before you did, but Kid returned the diamond already, see?” Edogawa’s voice was in its higher register. Saguru wasn’t sure why the child seemed to have two separate speaking voices, but he seemed to use this chirpy voice more often, especially when his guardian, Mouri Ran, was around. When he was distracted or deducing a mystery, his voice seemed lower and more authoritative, which was strange to hear coming from a child whose tufts of hair only came up to Saguru’s waist. However, that wasn’t the strangest thing at the moment.

Saguru frowned. “I didn’t hear anyone else on the stairs,” he observed, silently noting that the boy didn’t look winded either. Was he lying about how long he’d been up here? Why? What would the child have to hide?

Edogawa looked nervous for a brief moment before he smiled proudly. “I was trying to be extra-quiet and sneak up on Kid. But he looked bored when I got here. I think he was just waiting around for someone to catch up so he could brag. He wasn’t surprised at all when I showed up.”

Edogawa was definitely lying, Saguru could tell, but he hadn’t yet figured out why, other than it probably had to do with Kid. Kid’s voice _had_ sounded more friendly than taunting, even though all Saguru had overheard were parting words. Saguru knew he could ask the child about the lie, but with as intelligent as Edogawa was, he would be able to cover his tracks pretty well if he realized his lie had been found out. For now, until Saguru came up with questions to figure out what Edogawa was hiding without alerting the child to his intent, he pretended not to notice the incongruity. “That sounds like Kid alright. Hey, could I have that diamond? If we can put it back tonight, that’ll save loads of paperwork in the morning.”

“Sure!” Edogawa agreed enthusiastically, handing it over. “Hakuba-niichan, you can say Kid gave the diamond back to you if you want the credit. I’m too tired for paperwork.” The child held up the diamond as he walked up to Saguru, then continued past the older boy and down into the stairs after handing it over.

“Thanks, Edogawa-kun.” Saguru mumbled. He turned the diamond over in his hands as he thought. The statement had been innocuous enough, with all the whininess one would expect from a child who was asked to fill out forms. In fact, Saguru was sure the two of them had had a similar conversation once or twice before. But tonight, since Saguru was already suspicious about the child’s behavior, the request sounded almost manipulative. Giving Saguru the credit for besting the thief meant that there would be no real paper trail acknowledging that Edogawa had been face-to-face with the thief. There was no record that the child had probably spoken with the thief. If Edogawa was hiding something, if he was helping Kid, offering Saguru the credit was a sneaky way to cover his tracks.

Saguru shook himself out of his thoughts and followed the child down the stairs, closing the door carefully behind him. Perhaps at the next heist, he would have a chance to gather some evidence. For now, he would just wait and listen and watch.  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
Author's Note:  
Hello, dear readers. Welcome to my current baby, I mean story. Hopefully you will become as invested in the outcome of these events as I am.  
  
The prologue is un-beta'ed. I was going to write it last, but when the story got long, I had to hurry and write the prologue so I could post everything in order.  
  
A quick comment: The only Japanese language you will find in this fic are titles and honorifics, for example, the nicknames Tantei (detective) and Meitantei (great detective) that Kaito uses for his "critics" and Kaitou Kid's title. Kaitou means Phantom Thief, but if I translate the name to "Kid the Phantom Thief", I lose the pun on Kaito's name, and I rely on that pun for some light-hearted ambiguity. Speaking of Kaitou Kid's title, I know that KID was an acronym, but since people use it like a name, I am only capitalizing the K, and that will be consistent throughout the fic.

Well, I suppose if Conan does much deducing, I might also keep his "Ah-le-le?" intact in Japanese ("hey, what's this?" doesn't have the same ring to it at all), but that's seriously it on Japanese. Besides, this fic is more about Saguru making deductions while the others get into trouble, so I guess we'll see if Conan gets any murder-solving screentime. Probably not, given what happens in chapter three, but you'll have to wait and see what's keeping him occupied.  
  
Currently the plan is to update once a week, on Friday or Saturday. Today (Sept 17, 2015), I'm actually putting up both the prologue and chapter 1, which means no chapter this weekend. I got about five chapters written in the past three days, but I know I can't keep up that pace, so I'm leaving myself a bit of a buffer so I won't have to abandon you readers without warning.  
  
Leave reviews if you don't mind. Praise, hate, predictions, asking for clarification... I'd like to know how I'm doing at telling the story that has taken over my mind.

Thanks. You're all lovely people.  
  
Oh, and obviously I own none of the characters nor Beika and Ekoda (the fictional places in Tokyo) nor anything else about these anime/manga. But do I really need to tell you that on a fanfiction website? I didn't think so.


	2. Chapter 1: Preparations

_Present_

Saguru snapped his pocket watch shut. “Kid should take the Ethereal Rainbow in two minutes and four seconds. Baaya, if you’re ready, please start driving.”

His faithful housekeeper started the car, and pulled out into the busy Tokyo streets, driving toward the skyscraper with a museum taking up five of the middle floors and cheering crowds around it. “Remind me, young master, why you have planned to be late to this heist?”

“Because, Baaya, I want Kid to be off his guard. He never leaves promptly with the jewel, so if I arrive late, perhaps he will have let his guard down, giving me a better chance to catch him. Nakamori-keibu certainly has the manpower to give him a merry chase in the meantime.” _And_ , he added mentally, _I want to see what he says when his guard is down._

Saguru’s thoughts strayed to the roof of the museum, where two days earlier he had planted a bug to listen in on any rooftop conversations. He’d disguised the round figure as part of the hinge on the door, all but invisible to his own eye when he was looking for it. If Kid didn’t think to look, he shouldn’t notice anything amiss, and nor would anyone else.

He was already listening to the live feed through an unobtrusive clear earpiece. For now the line was quiet, not that he minded. With the placement of the bug, the door opening would squeal unmistakably in his ear, so he would definitely notice before a conversation started. Even if Kid took some other route, his pursuers would have to come up the stairs and out the main door to get onto the roof.

He checked his pocket watch again, as Baaya stopped the car. Fourteen seconds remaining until Kid took the large sapphire that was the focus of tonight’s show. The gem was not the vivid blue most commonly associated with sapphires. It was large enough to be valuable, but instead of being a single distinct color, the Ethereal Rainbow was a huge swirl of many colors of corundum, primarily yellow and green along the side people took pictures of, but with white and murky blues and even a bit of ruby-pink mixed in through the rest of the stone.

Saguru thanked Baaya for driving, as usual, and jogged toward the entrance, preparing to show his credentials and have his face pulled on so he would be allowed into the building. He could hear Kid’s voice boom, “Ladies and Gentlemen!” as he passed the front of the crowd, and slowed to a polite walk, then a full stop to greet the guard at the entrance to the building.

“Hakuba Saguru, running late?” the guard asked, suspicious. Of all the times for someone to make a fuss about Saguru’s absolute punctuality why did it have to be when time really mattered?

“Precisely. I’m never late. That is why Kid will be surprised and caught off-guard when I appear mid-heist,” Saguru replied, sounding as confident as he could manage. “I kept to my own schedule today instead of his. Which means I have arrived precisely when I mean to, as usual.”

After a little more convincing, and the standard anti-Kid checks, Saguru was admitted to the building. He glanced at the main elevators, which were dark. That was to be expected. Someone always had the bright idea to cut all but emergency power to try to inconvenience Kid, but inevitably, it was the police force that suffered from such decisions. Kid had his own ways of getting to high floors and to the roofs of buildings, with or without the elevators running. Saguru veered toward a service stairwell. It was smaller and quiet, and best of all, didn’t appear to have anyone in it. Habit kept Saguru’s body to the shadows and his footsteps nearly silent as he swiftly began climbing.

 

~~~~~~~~  
Author's Note

In case it isn't obvious, any italics outside of quotation marks are the pov character's internal thoughts. You'll notice the description style changes from person to person too, but it's not all internal monologuing. When you see a red house with big windows, you might think "I wonder who lives there" not "that's a red house with big windows" unless you're noticing something about the red color or about the windows. Likewise with these characters. They notice different things (and they can see different things when they're standing in different places), but not much of it shows up as internal narration. Thoughts are mostly reserved for commentary on other characters' actions.

Anyway, you didn't get much action here, but that happens occasionally. You've got to have at least a little exposition for every story. So what do we know? There's another heist and a colorful gem, and Hakuba is being proactive about looking into his theory from last time. This is kind of a short chapter too, but the next one picks up, I promise. And I've already had to split chapter five into three smaller chapters to keep them a consistent length. You readers have a lot to look forward to.

If this reads a little redundantly in terms of introductions, I apologize. I actually wrote this chapter before the prologue, but then I realized Saguru wouldn't be sneaky enough to plant a bug unless he had very good reason to, like a lying little kid being seeming to be in league with his rival. So you get introduced to Saguru twice-ish. Hope that's okay.  
  
My beta-reader won't get back to me until tomorrow night about grammar, so this may go through some minor updates at that point. But other than that, look forward to another chapter by Saturday Sept 25th to learn what Saguru's bug picks up

As always, please review so I know how I'm doing as a writer. Even if it's hate, I want to hear it. And I would love to see some predictions rolling in by this time next week. If you're creative enough (and it fits with what's already been decided) I might even work some predictions into the story.

On the other hand, when it comes down to resolving one of the major plot events, I have already decided that the outcome will be one of two things, and up to the flip of a literal coin when I write that chapter, no matter who tells me otherwise.

So yeah. Review. You never know what will happen next.

Stay awesome, cool people.


	3. Chapter 2: Rooftop Banter

Saguru was passing the thirteenth floor out of thirty-two when the rooftop door screeched in his ear. He immediately paused for breath, spun the volume on his Task Force radio down to a barely audible murmur, and shoved his earpiece deep into his ear, listening intently.

He waited for a heartbeat. Then two. Three.

Counting heartbeats was silly; his heart was still racing from the exertion of rushing up the stairs.

He was about to reach for his pocket watch when his patience was finally rewarded with voices on the other end of the line.

“Ah, Tantei-kun. You’re off your game tonight. You only made me use four of my backup plans.” Kid sounded as unflappable as ever. There was no telling how long the phantom thief had been standing there, but he clearly intended to sound as though he’d been standing around bored the entire time since he took the jewel.

“Sorry, sorry,” a soft voice panted, sounding almost sarcastic and much closer to the bug than the first. _I thought it would be you_. Edogawa Conan was speaking with his lower voice. Over the radio and with that odd voice, Edogawa suddenly sounded much more mature than he usually appeared.

“It’s been a long couple of weeks,” Edogawa continued his apology, slowly regaining his breath as he spoke. “The Bar has been busy recently. And the Zoo is out in force tonight; I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

 _The Bar? The Zoo?_ Those must be codes, since no seven year old should have been busy at a bar and zoos didn’t tend to travel, especially into the city. Saguru resumed climbing stairs, just slowly enough that his breathing did not drown out the conversation he was still listening to, letting his mind paint the picture as he ran up the stairs.

“Yes, Meitantei, I’ve noticed. I’ve got doves watching five snipers tonight. Usually, I only merit one or two.”

Snipers. Kid and Edogawa Conan were calmly discussing the presence of snipers in the middle of a heist. They were calmly discussing the presence of snipers while they were in the open on a rooftop, and Kid was probably wearing his white outfit, which made him a very visible target. If Saguru were less confident in his own faculties, he would be sure he had misheard. Surely neither one was that stupid.

Could there really be snipers? Sure, there had been rumors of gunfire at Kid heists before, but never close enough to make it into official reports, especially since no one was ever injured, at least among the Task Force. Kid was used to “meriting” snipers... Had he been shot before?

Saguru was so distracted processing this evidence of snipers that he almost missed the next words out of Kid’s mouth, although that might have been because the voice was quieter and muffled, like Kid expected the sentence to be overheard and was trying to avoid being caught.

“Speaking of which. Behind me. Three floors from the top. Two windows left of center.”

Kid was directing Edogawa’s attention to something in a nearby building. And it was… related to the snipers? Saguru expected to hear footsteps as the child ran toward the edge of the building to look, but he only heard a strange crackling that reminded him of electricity.

“You’ll never get away with it, Kid!” Edogawa cried in a playful tone (playful? Those words should sound angry.) Saguru heard a faint hiss, and then there was a hum of energy and a loud thump. There was a softer scuffle and a wordless noise from Kid which also sounded amused. A pregnant pause stretched on for three and a half very long seconds before Kid and Edogawa exhaled simultaneously as though they had both been holding their breath.

Kid spoke first, and his voice sounded playful again, and just different enough that Saguru guessed he must be standing in a different place than he had been. “Terrible aim, Tantei-kun. So terrible, in fact, that you missed me, and actually slammed a sniper in the face with that soccer ball. She’s not very happy I don’t think.”

 “Oh no, I missed,” the child deadpanned, sounding not at all upset. “I guess I’ll just have to talk you into returning the gem.” He resumed his normal tone as he asked, “This isn’t the one, I assume?”

“Patience, Tantei-kun. It’s been overcast since I got up here.”

So Kid is definitely looking for a specific gem. That revelation didn’t surprise Saguru. But why does Edogawa Conan, protégé of the Tokyo police force, sound like he cares about the thief's success? Why does he know enough details about the gem in question that such a vague question and strange answer made sense to both of them? Saguru’s suspicions were being confirmed; there’s definitely more to Edogawa than meets the eye. However, for now, the conversation was opening more questions than it was solving. For example, Kid’s reaction to Edogawa’s question was something of a non-sequitur as far as Saguru could tell. Why would the weather have anything to do with identifying a gem?

“What’s the lore on that one anyway? It must be good for all our _friends_ to be here.” Edogawa inquired, and Saguru’s mind snapped back to drawing conclusions. He ignored the emphasis on the word “friends” for now, because the child was probably just referring to the snipers again. But with the question emphasizing lore, Saguru could safely conclude that Kid selects gems based on legends about them. Perhaps there’s another legend inspiring the thief to steal. But which legend, and why?

“This one has more coincidence than lore,” Kid explained, and Saguru forced his thoughts to shut up and _listen_. This was a prime opportunity to witness how the thief thinks on the job.

“As it happens,” Kid continued, “eight of the last eleven owners of this gem survived murder attempts, and the other three just bought and sold it with no incidents. None of them even died and left it to someone else, they all sold it. I, personally, wouldn’t want to deal with the hassle of an attempt on my life, but…” he left the sentence hanging, implying something, though Saguru couldn’t quite fill in the blank on his own.

Fortunately, Edogawa finished Kid’s sentence for him. “But if you’re looking for a stone of immortality, then a stone whose owners have not died is an intriguing candidate.”

A stone of immortality? Surely the young detective didn’t believe in such a thing. This conversation had somehow changed from being enlightening to just disturbing. Was Kid looking for a stone of immortality? Did such a thing even exist? Of course not, even the idea of a stone of immortality was ridiculous. But then why would the young detective take the thief seriously? Saguru had seen the child in action, even had his own deductions upstaged by the child’s level head. Edogawa wasn’t naïve enough to believe in fairy tales.

Edogawa broke the silence since Kid didn't seem to have anything more to say. “By the way, Mom called last week. It sounds like my parents will be in town next month. They’d both like to see you, if you can make it over.”

There it was. Evidence. Saguru had just known that Edogawa Conan was too friendly with the Phantom Thief, but this was finally proof that the two had a relationship that was not just criminal-and-detective. Edogawa had extended an invitation for the thief, well probably his alter ego, to go visit with the Edogawa family. That meant that Edogawa Conan must know the thief outside of heists. Saguru smirked, certain that a certain classmate of his would likely visit “family friends” in the next month or two.

On the other hand, Saguru suddenly realized, he knew next to nothing about Edogawa Conan’s parents. He’d never met them. He’d never heard the child talk about them before, let alone in that familiar way that sounded like long-suffering amusement at their quirks. That was yet another mystery to be solved. No normal child would seem estranged from their parents sometimes, and perfectly familiar with them at others. What else was the child hiding?

Saguru had completely missed whatever Kid had said in response to the invitation, but he didn’t realize it until Conan’s voice interrupted Kid’s. “Oy, look. The moon’s out.”

They’re talking about the weather again. Saguru shook his head at the sudden change of topic and paused on another landing to catch his breath. He glanced at the number on the wall. It was floor twenty-eight. Saguru needed to climb four more flights of stairs until he got to the top floor, and then change stairwells to approach the roof. But he didn’t want to be too close when Edogawa came back inside; Saguru wanted more time to reflect on the evidence he had gathered before he confronted anyone with it. (Was no one else close to those two? Saguru hadn’t been to the display room, so he idly wondered what sort of traps had prevented everyone else from the Task Force from even approaching the roof, while Conan ran around freely. Was he maybe in league with Kid from the beginning? Has the child been helping on heists since Kid returned from his eight-year hiatus? Perhaps if Kuroba Kaito was not Kaitou Kid, then Kid may have taken those eight years away from stealing to raise and train Edogawa Conan. Wouldn’t that be terribly ironic, if Kid had trained someone and then left him living with a former police officer so Kid would have an accomplice on heists whose presence was never suspected. How did Edogawa wind up living with the Mouris anyway?)

Saguru suddenly realized that Kid had made no verbal reply after Edogawa’s statement that the moon was out. He must be doing something in the moonlight. That made sense considering another one of the thief’s titles was The Moonlight Magician. What was so special about moonlight that he would only perform some action with the moon visible? Perhaps that was why his heists were usually so close to a month apart from each other: because the full moon provided more moonlight for him to work with.

Edogawa’s whisper was just loud enough for the bug to pick it up. “Is that… Is that really it?”

A moment passed, silently, and Saguru figured Kid must be either nodding yes or gesturing ‘no’ somehow, although it would be more in character for the thief to tease the detective for being wrong. In the meantime, Saguru started climbing stairs again, walking silently upward. Then Kid murmured something, soft as a breeze, but Saguru couldn’t make out the word or words, only that it had at least three syllables.

The conversation had been quiet for just long enough that when the next words were spoken, Saguru jumped and nearly twisted his ankle on the stairs. He was startled when three things happened at once.

Conan began speaking at a normal volume again, saying “so…” and stretching out the syllable as he figured out what to say next.

At the same time, there was a suspiciously familiar cracking sound, and a faint echo. If Saguru’s ears weren’t mistaken, that was a rifle. It was quiet enough that it was probably a building or two away, but that was close enough that a fair marksman could do some real damage. They had been talking about snipers before.

Simultaneously, or maybe just before Saguru heard the rifle, Kid shrieked “Tantei-kun, get _down_!”

Saguru regained his footing and instinctively tucked himself tight against a wall to hide in the nonexistent shadows; listening helplessly to quick, scuffled footsteps, Edogawa’s yelp as he was (hopefully just) jostled (that sounded more surprised than in pain, right? Right), and then a strange crunch (much, much closer to the bug than the rifle had been) and a deep groan. Saguru couldn’t tell which of the two boys he was listening to had made the sound.

Someone had been shot. Despite Kid’s policy that no one got hurt at heists, someone had just been shot.  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
Author's Note:  
Welcome, faithful readers, and enjoy the new chapter. The action is picking up finally. Saguru can't see, but he's intelligent enough that he can guess most of what's going on, even though he has no idea why, so I think the narration turned out okay.

Fun fact, back when this was supposed to be a one-shot, this was actually the bulk of the story, and I alternated between picturing the scene on the roof and amusing myself with Saguru slowly getting more and more panicked because he doesn't realize just how in-control Kaito really is, even with the snipers. Of course then I realized that Saguru wouldn't ordinarily be crafty enough to have planted a bug, so I had to add a few chapters to explain why he did and get from point A to point B, and then I realized that if Kid had really found Pandora and there were more snipers than usual, the chances of no guns firing was essentially zero, so I realized they would be shot at. And then it wasn't realistic to have no one get hurt, so this fic developed from there. In the original version, (no injury), the story skipped straight from here to the attempts to destroy Pandora, but somehow I think both people on the roof will be too distracted by someone's injury or injuries to worry about Pandora for a little while.

I know, I know: a more crafty writer might discourage me from commenting on Pandora until the characters are sure whether the stone is it or not (and know what they're talking about, which Saguru really doesn't) but I will just say that even if this isn't Pandora, Kaito's Black Org don't know much more than Kaito does, so if Conan thinks it's Pandora in the moonlight, then everyone makes that assumption too, regardless of whether it turns out to be Pandora in the end. For now, everyone seems to assume it is, which is more important than whether or not the sapphire is actually Pandora.

As usual, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Who do you think got shot? How long will it take Saguru to figure everything out or will he be stuck with questions for the entire fic/until he stumbles in too deep and gets killed? (Okay, he won't get killed in this fic, or I would have tagged for it, but you know what I mean.) Or, alternately, did something just not make sense at all, and I need to explain further? As long as it's something that's not planned for a dramatic reveal later (I don't think I've got any of those, but just in case), I'll answer your questions and become motivated to write more clearly in the future, so it can't hurt you to ask. Reviews make my heart sing.

The next chapter comes at the same time next week. Until then, fair readers, adieu.


	4. Chapter 3: Red

Kaito had been prepared for the Ethereal Rainbow to be another dud, but as usual, he had dutifully held it up to the moonlight, so the snipers, Snake’s henchmen who would report everything they saw, could see that it wasn’t Pandora. So they wouldn’t waste their time and his effort by following him tonight.

Kaito would never let his exhaustion show on his Poker Face, but he was definitely looking forward to collapsing in bed tonight. He hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep in the past week, especially with planning for this heist and that all-nighter to finish a presentation, and just studying in general. Maybe scheduling a heist the weekend before final exams hadn’t been his wisest idea. But there was no better way to remind Hakuba that Kid had no reason to care about school schedules than to schedule a high-energy heist right when most students were working themselves to death. The British detective hadn’t even shown up tonight, which kind of ruined the plan. What a pity. It was as simple as ever to keep the Task Force off his tail, and even Shinichi was too distracted to put up much of a challenge. Hakuba’s presence would have made the heist lively again. Well, since the gems he stole were never Pandora, that would work in his favor tonight so he could get some sleep.

Except this time, as he held the Ethereal Rainbow aloft, the stone began to glow a shimmering raspberry color that for some reason made Kaito think of kool-aid. Kaito and Shinichi both stared as the multi-colored gem flared to life in the cool moonlight. The red light wasn’t very bright, but it was unmistakably glowing; Kaito’s white sleeve looked pink as he held the gem aloft.

Shinichi recovered first. “Is that… Is that really it?”

Kaito barely nodded, a tiny movement, since large, dramatic gestures would have seemed too much in the silence. He allowed his lips to reverently shape the name. “Pandora.” It barely felt real. He’d spent almost two years searching, and this chaotic-looking stone had been Pandora all along.

Kaito peered closely at the whiter (more-clear, to a layman) side of the stone, trying to see inside. Was this really a doublet, a gemstone with a smaller gem inside? Okay, there was a purely pink section at the heart of the Ethereal Rainbow, that was technically ruby, but rubies and sapphires are all really the same mineral. Rubies are by definition red sapphires. That felt almost like cheating, if the legendary doublet consisted of a ruby within a sapphire.

He was so wrapped up in the moment that he almost didn’t notice the flashing in his monacle’s HUD. Mystic, the dove trailing sniper three, was moving erratically enough to set off the alarm that he had programmed after training his doves. He switched feeds to view from the tiny camera strapped to her chest, grateful for the software stabilizing the picture so there was barely a hint of jittery motion.

 _Well done, Mystic, doing the alert dance. Treats for you when we get home._ The sniper Shinichi had pegged earlier had recovered from the soccer ball to the face, though her face was still bleeding slightly from the fragments of shattered window, and now she was peering into the scope, finger tensing over the trigger.

Kaito wasn’t worried. He would be the target, as usual. But like always, he was wearing his bulletproof vest under the suit, and the top hat had a layer of Kevlar woven in strategic places, and his cape was deceptively thick so it protected his arms and legs from this angle and added a second layer of protection to his back. Even the monacle was made with fiberglass thick enough to stop a bullet from destroying his eye. All of his vital areas were more protected than they looked, and he was used to being shot at anyway.

Except…

Rather than the eerie calm he usually saw on a sniper, she looked downright furious.

Shinichi had slammed her face with a soccer ball only a few minutes ago.

What if she didn’t aim at Kaito today?

She was about to shoot.

As soon as it occurred to Kaito that he might not be the target, he lunged for Shinichi’s hand, and shouted “Tantei-kun, get down!” He barely heard the shot behind him, but he yanked his small friend sideways, trying to take them both around the half-open door and down into the stairwell and out of sight as quickly as possible.

Shinichi flailed and squeaked at the sudden movement, his right arm swinging out to counterbalance Kaito pulling on the left. As Kaito’s elbows hit the ground and Shinichi finally lost his balance, falling into Kaito’s outstretched arms, Kaito heard an awful crunching sound, followed by Shinichi’s anguished groan. He scrambled forward, carrying his injured friend, and on his way past he let his foot briefly catch the door to get it moving so it would slam shut behind them. Finally, safely out of sight, he allowed himself to examine them both.

Kaito himself was uninjured, or at least he wasn’t feeling pain yet.

Shinichi’s wrist was bleeding. Wrist. Not vital like the head. Wrist. Okay. We can work with that.

Shinichi wasn’t actively dying, so Kaito allowed himself a moment to worry about everyone else. Since the shot hadn’t killed him _and_ he was pretty sure he had Pandora now, the other snipers would probably be more trigger happy than usual. And there were a lot of snipers tonight.

Kaito picked up his disguised radio and flipped to the police channel. With the most generic voice he could manage, he announced, “Hey everyone! I’ve spotted Kid! He has entered the vents on the fifteenth floor. Requesting immediate assistance to trap him in there!”  Kaito waited just long enough to hear people relaying the message and rushing to comply, then he flicked the radio off again and turned back to his friend. “That should keep them safely away from windows and doors, yeah?”

Shinichi whimpered in response, his left hand clutching his right arm and holding it close to his chest. He looked dazed and pale and his wrist was still bleeding heavily. Kaito couldn’t immediately tell what damage the bullet had done, but he knew that even his own flexible wrist couldn’t get a hand to that unusual angle. Kaito also knew that Shinichi probably couldn’t afford to lose much blood, due to his tiny figure.

He fought to keep his Poker Face intact. Shinichi needed more medical care than Kaito could provide, and while Kaito was in his Kid uniform, he couldn’t deliver his friend to any hospital without getting arrested. Still, he knew some first aid, so he would do what he could and then worry about how to proceed. The first thing of course, was to stop the bleeding.

“Hey. It’s okay. Let me see it,” Kaito coaxed, using one hand to gently pry open Shinichi’s grip on his own arm, the other hand putting Pandora safely away while digging in his many hidden pockets for a scarf or a large handkerchief. He found a string of them. Perfect.

The small detective whimpered as Kaito slowly extended the apparent-child’s arm, failing to avoid jostling the injury despite his best efforts. Kaito decided rambling about the process wouldn’t hurt. As long as Shinichi was awake enough to understand, he would appreciate being told what Kaito was thinking and doing, and at the same time Kaito would be able to judge by Shinichi’s reactions just how badly off the small detective was.

“Hey. Okay there Tantei-kun. Stay awake with me. I’m going to tie this around your arm so you won’t lose too much blood. It’ll hurt, ‘cause it’s gotta be really tight, but I imagine your wrist hurts so much you won’t notice.” Shinichi nodded weakly in response, and Kaito got to work.

 

\-----------------

 

Saguru flinched as the door squealed shut in his ear (did no one ever oil those hinges?) and then slammed, which left his ear ringing. He listened intently, not daring to move, as Kaitou Kid first redirected the entire Task Force (to safety! He’s protecting them. That’s not the point right now) and then narrated his way through some surprisingly thorough first aid. Since his voice remained steady rather than fading away, Saguru supposed the pair were sitting on the stairs right inside the roof door. First, the thief apparently tied a tourniquet around Edogawa’s arm, and then he continued babbling. Edogawa’s whimpers were the only interruption to his monologue.

“See, that’s done already. Still with me, Tantei-kun? Yeah, I know. That wrist must hurt. Looks like the bullet went all the way through and out the other side. I’m going to press this onto your wrist to make it stop bleeding. The pressure will hurt, but bleeding hurts you more, okay?” A pause, and this time Edogawa yelped again, trailing off into a long moan. “Hush, hush, I know it hurts. This is important. Can’t have my favorite critic bleeding to death, now can I?” Shit. How much blood had the child lost? “Shh. I’m tying this handkerchief on now. It’s like a bandage, but yellow instead of white. Pretty isn’t it. See, and now I don’t have to touch your wrist to keep pressure on that wound. We’re doing well, Tantei-kun. Okay. Now, we need to find something to splint your arm with, yeah? Yeah we do. Hey! Don’t blink at me with that tone. You need to stay awake, young man! Here. This will do as a splint, don’t you think?” Saguru had no idea what the thief was holding up, but there was a faint swishing sound which meant Kid was probably gesturing with whatever he had found.

“Yes, by all means roll your eyes at me, I like to know your brain still functions. Even if you’re only good at being a critic. Oh, fine; be that way… Here, can you move your fingers; grab this? Okay, I’ll curl your fingers for you. There you go. Now I’m just going to tie this in place.” Kid made a series of triumphant noises, and Saguru could almost picture the magician-thief tying a splint to the child’s arm and raising his hands as he cheered in celebration at each tied knot.

“See. Look at you. All bandaged up, and nearly done bleeding. But don’t think that just because you’re better I’m going to just hand you the Ethereal Rainbow back. No, no Tantei-kun. I’m a thief after all. But I will get you downstairs. We’ll figure out how to call you an ambulance without getting me arrested, yeah?” Sometime during Kid’s monologue, his voice had hardened into a taunt, probably to get the child to react or stay awake, but in those last five or six sentences, it softened again. Now the thief sounded gentle and fond.

There was a pause, and a slightly strained breath. Saguru supposed Kid was picking up the injured child.

“Kai…?” Edogawa’s voice was weak, but he was apparently close enough to the bug that it picked up his voice. Was he about to call Kuroba Kaito by name, or was he just using the Kaitou Kid’s full title? Saguru felt sick at the idea of using the former as evidence against his classmate, considering how it was gained.

“Use… my face… ‘sokay this time. Said you can.” Conan continued. He mumbled more, but the bug didn’t pick it up clearly enough.

Now that was a peculiar request. Kid was talented, but there was no way that Kid, an adult (although admittedly small for an adult, Kid was definitely adult-sized), could impersonate the face and body of a seven year old child who was small for his age. Perhaps Edogawa was just addled by the loss of blood. But Kid’s reaction was even more peculiar.

“Not this time, Tantei-kun. Besides, _you_ weren’t at the heist, remember? Your girlfriend would kill me…” By the end of the sentence, Kid’s voice had faded away so Saguru had to guess how it would continue. Kid seemed to be carrying Edogawa down the stairs away from the roof.

The conversations just kept getting stranger. Kid had put enough emphasis on the word “you” that Saguru could tell he meant something other than the literal identity Edogawa Conan, but he had no hints of who else it might be. The pair agreed that Kid was capable of impersonating Edogawa, or apparently some alter ego of the child’s. Clearly Kid refused to do so tonight, but the tone of Kid’s voice made Saguru think that the thief had gotten Edogawa into trouble in the past… With a girlfriend? As far as Saguru knew, Edogawa was only close with two girls his age: one whose enthusiasm for everything could be frankly overwhelming, and another who seemed rather cold. Saguru had never seen the boy look at or speak about either one with any apparent romantic interest. Curiously, Kid had responded to the invitation to “use my face” by saying “you weren’t here”, not “I can’t look that small” or “two of you would look silly; I’d be caught immediately,” either of which would have made far more sense.

On the other hand, now was not the time for wondering about that, nor about any other mystery. Edogawa was injured, and badly so, if his weak voice had been anything to go by. That thought finally spurred Saguru back into motion. He turned the volume on his police radio back up to its normal chatter, (everyone else was still busy between floors 13 and 17, trying to find the elusive thief) and resumed climbing the stairs; this time sprinting for the top and not worrying about how loud he was. It took only one minute and thirty-eight seconds to reach the top floor. Saguru emerged onto the floor, and looked around. There was no sign of either thief or child.

Saguru turned to approach the lone staircase that led to the roof. Habit made his footsteps nearly silent again. When he got close, he could see a faint line of bloody shoeprints leading away from the stairs. He turned to follow the blood down the hall, rather than approaching the roof first. Saguru stepped carefully, watching his feet so he didn’t smear the dark trail (evidence regarding the shooting and the heist). He was watching his feet so intently as he walked that he almost didn’t see Edogawa before tripping over the boy. Saguru stopped dead in his tracks and looked up to see the scene before him.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

Hello, lovely readers. I hope you're enjoying this story, and my latest chapter.

Unfortunately, I no longer have a beta reader, which was part of the delay tonight. About half an hour before I meant to have the chapter up, I looked it over for the first time in almost two weeks, intending to make sure the narration flowed well. Instead, I touched up some dialogue and suddenly had to deal with the repercussions of Saguru being too dang smart to leave clues alone and Kid speaking candidly where "no one" can hear. Almost seven hours later, I have finished updating the chapter and proofreading and writing you this little note. I will probably also have to rewrite several of the scenes in upcoming chapters to adapt to the more in-character dialogue. On the plus side, I still accomplished my weekly goal of updating between Friday dinner and Saturday lunch, so I really can't complain about the compulsion to make my story better.

My own reflections on the chapter: it's twice as long as each of the preceding chapters or longer. Part of that is because I revisited an old scene for the first half, because Kaito's perspective seemed important (and it's really not fair to tease you with a new chapter only to re-examine parts of the story and not provide you readers with any further developments.) On that note, I considered separating the two and doing a double update to keep the chapter length more consistent, but I didn't feel like coming up with more chapter titles. I don't even really like the chapter title I came up with, but it's fitting for both the discovery of Pandora and the amount of blood.  
The bug doesn't provide as much detail in this chapter, although that's more because the situation has changed than because my writing skills ran away. Saguru's detective mind hearing dialogue and a variety of sound effects paints the picture very nicely for chapter two. Saguru's now-panicked mind hearing a monologue and sound effects so repetitive they're not worth mentioning? That can't give nearly the level of visual detail, but it conveyed the panic well enough.

Oh, and the blood and gore isn't going to get much more explicit than this, in case anyone is worried. I've looked up ambulance tips for gunshot wounds and stats about recovery time and methods in order to write the following chapters, but I don't feel like seeing or describing in detail what a realistic wound would look like. Everyone else's concern can tell you more effectively and in a less visceral way how serious the injury is, so I will always use that method, when possible (like it is for this story). Obviously Saguru would talk about injuries a little more clinically than Kaito does, but Saguru also sees them bandaged, so he'll comment on the bandaging more than the injury itself.

If you're going to complain about not seeing how well Conan is patched up, please wait a few more chapters - Saguru hasn't really set eyes on the pair yet, so he'll have a chance to observe and continue to draw conclusions. Obviously, Kaito's observations won't help Saguru judge how much blood Conan has lost: Kaito's measurements are "pinprick", "blood", and "lots of blood" which Saguru finds infuriatingly vague, not that they've discussed it in this story, but it's fun to contrast characters' perspectives.

Well, as usual, I'd love to know what you think. What was convincing or what wasn't. What you expect to see next and whether you want or dread to see it. Is there anything you really hope will happen? (Because if it makes sense for this story, I might work it in, so it doesn't hurt to mention). Reviews seriously make my entire day better, so let me hear your thoughts.

Until next weekend, then.  
Stay classy


	5. Chapter 4: Elevator

Edogawa Conan was propped against a wall, his coat covered in blood and face looking rather grey. His eyes were half-open, but they were glazed over, and Saguru was sure the boy didn’t quite see him. Edogawa’s arms were folded across his stomach. As the thief had described, the boy had a yellow handkerchief tied around his right wrist, though it looked like there were two others folded flat underneath the tied one, with just the corners peeking out. On one side, the corners were purple, on the other, sky blue. Blood had seeped through both front and back, making dark spots against the yellow. The dark spots were growing, but so slowly that Saguru didn’t notice the change until his eyes had taken in everything else about the boy and returned to the damaged wrist to consider the severity of the injury.

Just above the child’s elbow, a forest green handkerchief was tied as a tourniquet. The splint turned out to be a pair of black and white plastic stage “wands,” tied in place side-by-side every couple of centimeters from the fingers to the elbow with more colorful handkerchiefs. A few meters away, Kid had the elevator doors propped wide open into the empty shaft and seemed to be working on something inside, though Saguru couldn’t see through the thief to determine what.

Saguru kept his distance and cleared his throat. Kid whirled, reflexively drawing his card gun. The thief’s face was, for once not sporting that signature smirk. His eyes were hidden, of course, but his jaw was tense, and although the thief would never admit it, Saguru was certain the Kaitou looked terrified. Kid looked pretty fearsome himself, since the thief had unmistakable bloodstains on the chest and shoulder and cuffs of his typically pristine white uniform, and had exchanged his white gloves for thick black ones.

“Tantei-san! I thought you were busy today.” Kid’s posture relaxed slightly as he addressed Saguru, and he lowered the card gun to point at the floor. The thief’s cape had flared out when he spun, but as it settled, Saguru could see beyond him to notice that Kid had been tying rope in a complex pattern onto the elevator cable, and there was a lot more rope laying around, although he couldn’t tell where it had all come from.

Before Saguru could respond, the thief continued explaining. “Tantei-kun got shot. Sniper was aiming for me. Sounded like it shattered his wrist. I’m about to rappel down with him, since the elevators are off and no one wants to carry another human down thirty flights of stairs. If you want, I can rig you a harness and I’d leave him with you down there. I don’t want to leave him alone, but I really meant to leave by now, and… Please, Tantei-san, take care of him!” There was real, desperate emotion in his plea that startled Saguru. He marveled at the predicament; Kaitou Kid, the infamous jewel thief, was begging Hakuba Saguru, upright detective, for help and a blind eye.

For one guilty moment, Saguru considered refusing, to force the thief to stay long enough to be arrested. But he glanced back at the small child sitting on the floor and possibly dying of blood loss, remembered the casual talk of multiple snipers, and frowned thoughtfully, knowing he could never walk away from someone in pain like that.

“Um. Hell…” Saguru sighed. There was no decision to make. “Yes, I will take care of Edogawa-kun, and I’ll trust you to tie me in right. But I’ll need a decent pair of gloves if I’m going to go rappelling at all.”

Kid squinted at him, perhaps trying to detect some trick. Then the grim expression on Kid’s face relaxed the tiniest bit, and he explained the harnesses he already had in progress.

“This is a standard harness… almost,” he indicated the chaos attached to the cable. “I’m still finishing it. And then _this_ part here…” Kid stepped back to indicate a wedge-shaped net on the floor. “That isn’t part of the harness you’ll need. It’ll be to hold Tantei-kun safely to me as I rappel. But I’m tying it separately, so if you need some extra reassurance that I’m trustworthy, I’ll tie both harnesses the same, and let you pick which one you want and then I’ll go down first. I’ve got experience rappelling like this, and then you can see that the harness works. The elevator should be stopped on the second floor. I’ll let us out on the third floor. You can handle carrying him down two flights of stairs, right?”

Saguru muttered his agreement, tactfully ignoring the thief’s nervous babble. While Kid worked, Saguru pondered the conversation he had just listened to. Visually comparing the child to the thief made it even more laughable to think that Kid could ever disguise himself as the littlest detective. A more likely interpretation was that Kid and Edogawa were working together, and the child saying “my face” was code for someone else’s face entirely.

But would the rest of the conversation still make sense that way? He thought back. No, neither of them had shown any other indication of realizing there was a bug, and both Kid and Edogawa had sounded too genuine to think that it was a code.

So was Edogawa somehow able to disguise himself as an adult? It was easier to add height and mass than it was to remove them. Even that possibility was pretty far-fetched. Even if he had the verbal maturity to avoid getting caught, how would he move a fake adult body convincingly?

Putting that baffling tidbit aside, all Saguru and that had actually learned tonight was that Edogawa’s parents knew enough about Kid to invite him over and that Kid was familiar with the snipers at his heists. Saguru had already had a hunch that Kid was looking for a specific jewel. Similarly, given the timing of the heists and the returns, it seemed pretty clear that not only was moonlight important, but the thief would wait until at least the full moon to return each stone. The conversation tonight still didn’t answer why to any of those observations. Well, with Edogawa’s injury, his guardians were unlikely to let him return to heists for a long time, so Saguru’s only hope for getting answers from Kid would be to convince the thief to travel together to the hospital, and maybe relax enough to drop his guard so Saguru could hear the pair interact more.

 “Here, Tantei-san. Pick a harness,” Kid ordered, stepping back. Kid had finished weaving the standard-looking rope into three thick weblike harnesses after only four minutes and fifty-one seconds, which Saguru had to admit was impressive.

The two matching harnesses were hooked loosely onto something by the door. After Kid got Saguru’s attention, the thief turned around and scooped up Edogawa. He cradled the child to his chest, ignoring the blood staining his white suit in more places, and fastened the net carefully around the child, securing it on the thief’s shoulders and around his waist. Then he took his arms slowly away, and leaned carefully at different extreme angles, making sure Edogawa was securely attached.

The child barely whimpered in acknowledgment when Kid picked him up off the floor. If he was already unconscious, less than ten minutes after being shot… Medical treatment could not come fast enough for Saguru’s satisfaction.

Saguru stepped forward and grabbed a harness at random, having no way to judge whether either one was pranked or damaged. Kid reached into his jacket and pulled out a pair of leather gardening gloves which he handed to Saguru. As Saguru put them on, Kid quickly explained how the harness worked, demonstrated how to put it on safely, and described how to slow down, and then went zipping off down the shaft before the detective could ask any questions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

Well hello again, dear readers. For once I don't have much to say. Another new chapter. This one's short-ish again, back to the length established by the original chapters. Last week's being twice as long as previous chapters was a coincidence that may or may not be repeated. We'll see.

I don't really have much to say. Today, I had a brilliant idea for a new crossover fic, which figures because then I had to drag myself out of that story to check on this one before I posted it. Still, I'm happy with what I have, and I hope you are too.

As usual, I'd love to hear your thoughts and reactions. What are you looking forward to? Did anything surprise you? Is Saguru's habit of noticing freaking EVERYTHING coming across as intended, or do you feel babied because he talks himself through his deductions? As I've stated before, reviews only improve my writing and enable me to tailor the story to what people are interested in, so if you want something, it can't hurt to ask. If it works in the story, I might work it in, you never know. (no promises obviously, but I read every single review, so I'll hear you no matter what.)

This time next week, you get the first part of chapter five. Chapter five split itself neatly into three related scenes of chapter-ish-length, but I don't know yet if I'll post it in two updates or three. That depends on the state of my buffer by then.

Until then, I hope you enjoy. :)


	6. Chapter 5: Phone Calls

Kid had done something to prop the elevator doors open on the third floor too, and was now leaning back through them. “Come _on_ , Tantei-san. If you don’t get down here very soon, I might just use _your_ face to deliver Tantei-kun to the hospital.”

Saguru swallowed hard. Kid had made a nearly thirty-story drop look like the easiest thing in the world despite being supported by little more than a rope that was sure to be wearing thin due to friction against the elevator cable.

“Tantei-san, if you’re not moving in five seconds, I’m not waiting!” And the thief knew how obsessively Saguru tracked the time and would probably enforce a literal five seconds. Ugh.

Well, Saguru refused to be left out of this crisis. Not with all the evidence that he had been there too, and not with all the questions he had for both Kid and Edogawa. He closed his eyes and let his feet swing into open air, pulling as hard as he could on the brake-rope. His feet tapped gently against the cable.

Saguru dared to open his eyes and realized he was inching down the elevator shaft much slower than the elevator itself would move. Kid clearly knew what he had been doing when he rigged this all up. Saguru loosened his grip a little, and accelerated carefully downward. He never reached the speed that Kid had zipped down the line, but by the time his feet landed gently on top of the elevator and he could look out into the third floor foyer, all the panic had dissipated. Saguru carefully extracted himself from the harness and emerged to find Kid pacing and talking into a cell phone. Edogawa was on the floor leaning against another wall, his eyes fully closed now.

 _Wait, that looks like…_ Saguru checked his pockets quickly. _Dammit. When did Kid get my phone?_

“…that’s right, I need an ambulance. No, the police are already here, this was a Kid heist. Yes. Yes… No, a child was injured. He’s lost a lot of blood for someone his size. I don’t know the details, I entered a room and Kid immediately rushed off, leaving the injured boy.” Well that was a blatant lie. Kid was the one making the call and he was still in his once-white regalia, while speaking in Saguru’s own voice. Damn that thief and his well-intentioned impersonations. “No, but he left a note that suggests… It seems to be a bullet wound. That’s a bullet wound on the arm. Kid has done basic first aid already, but I’m still concerned.” Kid had paused in his pacing to hold a paper against the wall and scribble out the note he was describing. “Of course I will remain on the line.” He signed the note with his usual doodle and his one visible eye narrowed slightly in annoyance at the faint bloody gloveprint that had smeared on the edges of the paper.

Kid spun away from the wall, winked at Saguru, and handed over both the phone and the note, silently taking back the leather gloves so smoothly Saguru almost didn’t notice them gone.

Saguru dutifully held the phone to his ear, but no one was speaking. He supposed he had to stay on hold, since “he” had promised to. He took a deep breath and held it for a moment before slowly breathing out. If he didn’t act now, Kid was going to leave and the detective would only be left with more questions after the events of this evening, rather than the answers he had been looking for.

Making up his mind, Saguru angled his phone’s mic away from his face and covered it with his hand. “Kid? I propose a truce.”

 _That_ certainly got the thief’s attention. Kid paused in the doorway and turned to fix Saguru with an incredulous look. “A truce, Tantei-san? Whatever for?”

Well, there was no going back now. Saguru sighed. “Don’t bother denying that you’re worried about Edogawa-kun. I too, am concerned for him. And for tonight, I am far more interested in catching those snipers than anything else. I’m sure your instincts for avoiding or redirecting pursuit can be applied to preventing further attacks on the child as well as they are in dodging the Task Force. Come with us to the hospital. I won’t arrest you or make any investigations into your identity until Edogawa-kun is well on the path to recovery.”

Kid considered for a moment, his face flickering with hints of the many emotions he must be hiding behind the usual smirk, while he studied Saguru with an intensity that made the detective feel like an insect under a magnifying glass. “As tempting as that is, Tantei-san,” the thief mused blandly, “what’s in it for you?”

“I, uh…” What would Kid believe? Saguru didn’t want to admit to investigating the child, but Edogawa seemed to hide less from the thief than from his other acquaintances so it would be far easier if they traveled together and Saguru recognized the disguise the thief was in. “Do I have to have a reason to want to protect an innocent child from the criminals that shot him?”

Kid frowned, a dangerous sharpness in his glare. “I only mentioned the sniper that shot Tantei-kun. What makes you think there’s more?”

Oh. _Oops_. Saguru shouldn’t have heard Kid’s observation about the multitude of snipers. Was Kid covering for his attackers or just testing Saguru? “I just can’t imagine that any individual sniper doesn’t have cohorts. Someone assigning their target at least. Most snipers don’t kill for personal reasons, and most people with such motivation don’t have training as snipers. Perhaps I should talk about the sniper and his* friends then. I really doubt he was working alone.”

Kid hummed softly, his expression giving nothing away. “I see.” Kid's too-bland tone suggested he thought there was more to the story, but was resigned not to pry. There was a long pause before he continued speaking, fixing Saguru with an icy stare. “Well, Tantei-san, I will hold you to your word. Act as though you have no idea that I’m Kid, and I’ll stick around and act as the watchdog you seem to think I am. Try to arrest or unmask me or implicate me to others, and I _swear_ by my…" Kid stopped abruptly, but continued before Saguru could begin to wonder what he would have said. "No. I swear by Nakamori-keibu’s shiny badge that your dignity will never recover. Are we clear?”

“Perfectly,” Saguru agreed, making sure not to let his relief and enthusiasm show in his answer.

“Good.” Kid’s glare lost its intensity. “Let me know when dispatch updates you on that ambulance. I have another phone call to make.”

With that, Kid made another phone appear (out of his sleeve?) and walked away from the elevator down the hallway. The frequent glances the thief shot over his shoulder told Saguru that Kid was hesitant to let Edogawa out of his sight, but apparently, this call was not one he wanted overheard. Saguru did his best to look interested in the rappelling setup again, rather than the upcoming conversation. He even fully turned his back on the thief. _Kid, if this isn’t enough for you to trust me, I can’t do anything more._

With any luck, Kid would remain close enough that Saguru could listen in anyway.

 

*Yes, the sniper in question was female. However, Japanese pronouns do not differentiate between male and female, so none of the characters would notice the difference. If they were speaking English or any other language with gendered pronouns, Saguru would have deliberately chosen the opposite-gendered pronoun from what he had heard to deflect suspicion that he knows more than he should, hence the switch.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

Hello again, readers. The chapter is later than I meant for it to be, although still within my stated range of publishing times. Last night, rather than posting anything, I went straight to bed as soon as I got home because it had been a very draining day. But never fear, the story continues.

As usual, I would love to hear your thoughts. Is everyone reacting believably? I know this chapter is more plot than action, but it sets up Saguru's continued ability to quietly observe the pair and draw hilariously wrong conclusions until he stumbles on the correct one. Reviews let me know if I've accomplished everything I mean to in my storytelling, so I love to hear them even if you think I've done everything wrong. If so, I won't know that I've failed until someone tells me.

Also, cookies for anyone who can tell what Kaito actually meant to swear upon

Well, that's all from me. See you next week, lovelies.


	7. Chapter 5 ½ Phone Calls (cont.)

Kudou Yuusaku had never liked deadlines. He had always said that a deadline was the quickest way to kill creativity. Unfortunately, his editors disagreed; those fiends thrived on enforcing deadlines. That was why Yuusaku and his wife were currently in a remote cottage in Switzerland, so Yuusaku could work on his novels at his own pace, Yukiko could enjoy the beautiful mountain scenery and being the most glamorous woman around, and most importantly, only a few trusted people could interrupt their tranquility by calling the unlisted satellite phone that he kept while travelling; no editors would ever get that number.

However, even Shinichi, the couple’s only son, rarely if ever called the satellite phone, so when it rang just before dinner one night, it startled both of them.

Yuusaku frowned at the caller id. It wasn’t someone whose number was programmed in, but that definitely looked like a Japanese number. It appeared to be a Tokyo cell phone, which didn’t narrow down the candidates much. It was also nearly midnight in Japan. That was unusual, but still gave no hints as to who it might be.

“Are you expecting a call, Yuki-chan?” he asked his wife. She wasn’t, so just before the final ring, Yuusaku answered the call and barked “Where did you get this number?” without even a greeting. If it was a prank call or a wrong number, Yuusaku wanted to scare the caller off so they wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. He expected to hear a stammered apology followed by a stranger hanging up or perhaps a familiar voice identifying themself and apologizing for calling from an unfamiliar number, neither of which came through the line.

“Ah! I’m sorry, Edogawa-san. Please don’t hang up yet, Edogawa-san. I’m calling about your son. Conan-kun has been shot.”

“You said my son has been shot?” Yuusaku repeated, and Yukiko gasped. “You have my full attention.” He immediately put the phone on speaker, gesturing to Yukiko to listen quietly. The question, of course, was whether the caller knew who he was speaking to or not. Did this gruff, probably male, voice know that Edogawa Conan was truly Kudou Shinichi and that he was talking to the famous yet reclusive author Kudou Yuusaku? Or did the caller only know that Conan’s biological father could be reached at this number? This conversation could happen in a variety of ways, but the safest was to play along until he could determine how much the caller knew.

Yuusaku continued before the voice could gather its thoughts and continue speaking. “By the way, I’m putting you on speakerphone so my wife Fumiyo-chan can listen.” He raised an eyebrow at Yukiko, trusting her to recognize the name and play along. “And if you don’t mind, would you tell me who you are and how you found my number. Did Conan-kun give it to you, or did you look me up by name?” Obviously, no one could have actually looked up Edogawa Conan’s father by name, since they hadn’t seen the need to invent the man yet. They hadn’t even decided on a name for him, but if the voice on the other end recognized the hidden question or had indeed looked up Kudou Yuusaku by name, then he would know something. If the caller answered honestly that “Conan” or someone else who should have the number had given him the number, then Yuusaku would have to find another way to ask what they knew. If the voice dodged the question or named someone who shouldn’t have the number as the source, then he would be suspicious and un-trusting.

“Yes. Um. Hello to both of you. This is Kaitou Kid. Conan-kun and his scientist friend gave me this number in case of emergencies a while ago.”

Yukiko nodded and jotted a quick note on a napkin. _Shin-chan mentioned in an email that he and KID got along and that KID seemed to know his identity._ Yuusaku acknowledged his wife’s contribution with a thin-lipped smile, thinking of his old friend, and a boy who had looked so much like Shinichi. Shinichi had separately mentioned a budding friendship with one Kuroba Kaito, and Yuusaku wondered if those friendships were as connected as he suspected, and if Shinichi knew that they were. The caller was probably being honest then, since no one else would expect “Conan’s” parents to know of their friendship. The “scientist friend” was likely Haibara Ai, another teen-turned-child, one of the few people to whom Yuusaku had provided the sat-phone number. However, “scientist” could also be Agasa Hiroshi, the inventor little Haibara lived with, whose house “Conan” often hung out at, so the statement did not confirm for Yuusaku that Kid knew enough for him to drop the act.

“Well, what can I do for you, Kid-san? I’m out of town right now.”

“Yes, Edogawa-san. I know you’re out of the country.” That was true and contained more detail than Yuusaku had said. Promising. “That’s why I wanted to ask, may I disguise myself as you and escort Conan-kun to the hospital? You see, he got shot at my heist – just through the wrist so it shouldn’t be life-threatening – and I feel terribly responsible. I’d like to see him get better, but I don’t want to be in anyone’s way who would actually be there if it weren’t for me.”

Kaitou Kid never asked to borrow people’s identities. He just put them on when it suited him. The only reason he seemed to be asking now is because Edogawa Conan’s father didn’t exist enough to copy yet. Assuming Kid knew that Conan was really Kudou Shinichi, Yuusaku could interpret the request as the Kaitou asking permission to invent Conan’s father.

Taking a carefully calculated gamble, and picking a name out of thin air, Yuusaku asked, “Kid-san, you do know that Edogawa Daichi is as real as the Night Baron, right?” _And I have invented both of them_.

“Yes, Edogawa-san, I know. But I was wondering if you had any current pictures of yourself that you could text to me. Conan-kun doesn’t keep any pictures of his family, and I wouldn’t want to misrepresent you.”

Well, that almost-nonsensical answer told Yuusaku several things. Kid expected someone on the other end to be able to hear Kid’s half of the conversation but not Yuusaku’s. Whoever else was there did not know Shinichi’s secret. And Kid knew that Edogawa Daichi – which was as good a name as any for Conan’s father – did not exist. Yuusaku was sure of that because Kid had reacted without surprise or even hesitation. Good.

“I assume you’re asking me this so that if Daichi-san has made an appearance before, you can match it?” Yuusaku asked.

“That’s right, Edogawa-san. Any current pictures will do.”

Thank goodness Kid had the good sense to answer with simple sentences before elaborating to make his audience think he was having a regular conversation; that made this conversation much easier as long as Yuusaku could ask good questions.

Yuusaku thought quickly. Obviously no photos existed of Edogawa Daichi, so he couldn’t send a picture even if he wanted to – Kid would surely know that, so he wasn’t really asking for pictures. The original Kaitou Kid had been Yuusaku’s good friend and friendly rival Kuroba Toichi. Anyone claiming to be Kid ought to know who Toichi was; if not, they should have picked a different moniker as a phantom thief. Toichi’s son Kaito at age five had looked nearly identical to Shinichi then, and they both looked like Shinichi looks again. Thus, Toichi’s face would have some resemblance to Shinichi’s own; perfect for someone claiming to be the apparent child’s father.

It was decided. “Okay, Kid-san. You realize that no pictures exist because you will be inventing Edogawa Daichi. So let us agree that that Daichi-kun looks exactly like Toichi-sama, except that he wears glasses. Conan wears his huge frames to look more like his dad.” _Well, they were originally my glasses in any case._

Kid was silent for a moment, and Yuusaku frowned. Surely that had been straightforward enough. Then Kid spoke, voice tight with emotion and sounding like a different person entirely. “I understand, Edogawa-san.” There was a pause, and then Kid cleared his throat and almost managed to resume the grumbling voice he had begun with. “I mean, thank you, Edogawa-san. And I promise I will report to you anything that is said to me while I appear to be you.”

Ah. Assuming this Kid was Kuroba Kaito, son of the deceased Toichi, he would certainly miss his own father, especially when reminded during such trying circumstances. Yuusaku decided to apologize. “Kaito?” If this wasn’t Kuroba, Kid would hear the name as his title, Kaitou, instead, so it wouldn’t reveal his assumption of Kid’s identity to the wrong person.

“Yes, yes,” Kid’s voice came, sounding firm again and slightly irritated. “One more question. How do you spell your name? I’m afraid Conan-kun has passed out on me so he cannot answer” Conan wouldn’t know the spelling either, Yuusaku knew, since he had just invented Daichi’s name moments before, but Kid’s audience didn’t know that.

“Oh, it’s ‘dai’ as in large and ‘chi’ as in wisdom*.”

“Thank you, Edogawa-san. I’ll be in touch.” Kaitou Kid disconnected before Yuusaku could say anything more.

Yukiko finally spoke. “No one called us when he was shot in the stomach and nearly died. Do you think it’s worse this time?” she asked nervously.

Yuusaku sighed and pulled his wife into a tight hug. “As far as I can tell, the difference is the people involved, not the severity of the injury. Kid was calling to make sure we hadn’t already created a persona for Conan’s father.”

“Oh…” She didn’t sound convinced. “And what would you have said if he were confused or shocked by your admission that Conan-chan’s father is fictitious?” she scolded. Yukiko clearly did not approve of her husband’s gamble.

“I would have explained that Edogawa Daichi was a name Fumiyo-chan made up to put on his birth certificate so she wouldn’t appear to be a young single mother. I would have come up with another name for myself when I explained that I married you a few years later, so I was Conan-kun’s step-father. I was prepared for the conversation to go that way if I had guessed wrong, but I needed to know how freely I could speak.”

Yukiko sighed softly, indicating that she would not question him further. “Well, I’m not really hungry anymore, but… Dinner?”

“Dinner,” Yuusaku agreed, sitting back and taking her hand in both of his. “We’ll worry about Shinichi later. We can’t do anything more right now.”

 

*From a baby-names website: ‘Daichi. From Japanese 大 _(dai)_  "large, great" combined with 地 _(chi)_  "earth, land" or 智 _(chi)_  "wisdom, intellect"’.  
Yuusaku as an author (who is frequently compared to Mycroft Holmes**) has chosen the interpretation “great intellect” for his pseudonym because he’s smart and he knows it.

** Shinichi is often compared to Sherlock so Yuusaku is definitely Mycroft: the older and wiser and infinitely more astute relative that isn’t officially even a detective.

 

~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

Hey, all. Another chapter is up. Was it what you expected?  
I've got a beta reader again, which I failed to account for when planning my weekend, so this update is a few hours later than planned because I had to wait on her. I've updated further behind schedule, though, so it's not really a surprise to anyone, I hope.

As usual, I'd love to hear your thoughts. While I really liked this scene as it stands, these two characters rarely interact in fanfiction and I don't think they've ever interacted in canon, so it's an unusual dynamic. I think it works, but of course I wrote it so I'm biased. Would love to hear opinions, of course.  
  
Following up on last week's chapter, I could have sworn I read a comment correctly stating that Kaito stopped himself from swearing "on my father's grave" and also offering some constructive criticism that I was happy to consider. However, that comment seems to have vanished into the ether. Maybe I just dreamed I got a not fully positive comment? (Seriously, I've only had very positive comments besides the missing one and that's really encouraging, but I don't want it to go to my head either.) But regardless of whether I imagined it or not, I'm using the criticism to guide me in strengthening later chapters, and hopefully making them more fun. Well, cookies for everyone who read the chapter and made a guess, whether or not you told me about it, because I like sharing cookies. :)

Regarding the idiom, I realize that swearing on the grave of one's parent is a thoroughly English idiom, but since I don't know enough Japanese to know actual Japanese idioms, I thought it was fitting. In English, of course, the phrase "I swear on my father's grave" is used by people with and without living fathers to emphasize one's seriousness. It derives that seriousness from the (assumed) respect for family/elders/parents, and the sober attitude that graves and death are regarded with in European (and most other) cultures.

We rarely see Kaito very serious, but I imagine that he treats the phrase with even more weight than the average person due to how much he idolizes his father and the fact that his father's grave already tangibly exists. He is feeling very serious right now, but he caught himself from saying - as Kid - a phrase that would tie him to himself as Kaito, so he caught himself and swore on something a little more lighthearted. Nakamori is one of Kid's most devoted pursuers, if not  _the_ most devoted, so he is a constant enough thing in Kid's life for him to swear upon and Hakuba would recognize that.


	8. Chapter 6: Family

Saguru was still on hold with the ambulance dispatch, so he strained his ears trying to hear the conversation down the hall. He could occasionally catch the thief’s tone of voice, but not enough of the words to follow the conversation, so he decided to study Kid’s body language instead. He turned around to face the injured child, which conveniently put the thief back in his field of vision. Kid was pacing and speaking rapidly into the phone, appearing to have a heated conversation. The thief shot frequent glances back toward Saguru and Edogawa, but whether that was to remind himself of the situation or to ensure that neither had disappeared, Saguru could only begin to guess. He tried not to look like he was paying attention, since Kid was likely to be wary of scrutiny, but there really wasn’t anything else to draw his attention. Edogawa wasn’t getting any better nor any worse, and he certainly wasn’t saying anything.

For lack of a better way to occupy his time, Saguru ran through the events of the evening again, and the burning curiosities that stuck out in his mind.

Question. What relationship did Edogawa Conan, “Kid Killer” truly have with the Phantom Thief?

Fact. Edogawa was frequently the first person to catch up with Kid despite the amassed experience of the Task Force and Saguru himself. Edogawa often seemed to beat the others to the thief by a sizable margin.

Fact. Kid and Edogawa teased each other when no one else was around. Edogawa had extended an invitation for the thief to visit his family – the child’s actual parents, not Detective Mouri and his high school daughter. Those events together suggested that Kid and Conan and perhaps the entire Edogawa family were on friendly terms with each other.

Fact. Kid knew there were “at least five snipers” before anyone took a shot. Edogawa had somehow hit a sniper on another building with a soccer ball. Edogawa had later been shot by one of those snipers.

Question. Why were there so many snipers after Kid. Were they all working together? Why did only one shoot? Why was Kid familiar with them?

Curiosity. Despite being so friendly in other ways, Kid and Edogawa called each other by titles instead of names.

More curiosities. Edogawa actually seemed to speak in code a lot, even when the pair had seemed to be alone on the rooftop. The child had used codes to respond to the thief’s teasing that the little detective was “off his game.” Later, when under such amounts of stress that would discourage actively coming up with codes, he had encouraged the thief to “use my face” even though neither one could possibly disguise as the other. Kid had responded with teasing, suggesting that such seemingly nonsensical statements were commonplace between the two and that Kid knew exactly what Edogawa meant by it. That further strengthened the idea that the pair was exceedingly familiar with each other.

Fact. Mouri Ran claimed that Edogawa was seven, almost eight years old.

Fact. Just under ten years ago, Kaitou Kid had stopped holding heists. A year and a half ago, Kid had resumed the heists, but had taken several months to resume his pattern of stealing jewels, which suggested a new Kid who hadn’t fully embraced the role yet.

Observation. Saguru had never met either of Edogawa’s parents. He had never heard anyone talking about meeting them, not even the child himself, before tonight. However, when talking to the thief, the child seemed fond of his seemingly absent parents.

Conjecture – and this was such a strange statement Saguru could not believe he was seriously considering it – the original Kaitou Kid had retired in order to raise a son, now known as Edogawa Conan.

Saguru had shrugged that idea off earlier, but the timing was too convenient to ignore. If the original Kid was female, then the forty weeks of pregnancy added to Edogawa’s age would account for all but the first few months of Kid’s “disappearance.” That could explain why the new Kid (Saguru _knew_ the current one wasn’t old enough to be the original) was on good terms with the too-smart child. It could explain why a mere child was better than trained police officers at following the thief, assuming the two had been raised, maybe even trained together.

In fact, if Edogawa was a year or so older than Mouri-chan thought, just lying about his age to seem younger and more innocent, that could explain the entirety of the first Kid’s absence (whether the original was male or female) as well as the child’s strange personality shifts as he tried to seem younger than he was. Edogawa was small for his age either way, which couldn’t possibly be deliberate, but perhaps that was a family trait that he took advantage of.

Assuming that Edogawa was the child of the original Kaitou Kid would provide a reasonable explanation for almost all of the odd things Saguru had noticed. It would explain why no one seemed to know the child’s history or family. It would even almost explain why the kid was so comfortable chasing after real criminals. The only problem was there was absolutely no evidence to support that theory. It was strangely plausible, but he hadn’t found concrete proof yet. There was only circumstantial evidence in how familiarly thief and child treated each other and in the child’s personality shifts.

It was strange to even suspect Edogawa as a criminal's accomplice, but what other explanation fit all the facts?

 

Kid suddenly froze, neither pacing nor talking and Saguru couldn’t stop his head from snapping up automatically to see what the white-clad thief was reacting to. Kid didn’t seem to notice; his one visible eye was squeezed tightly shut, and his mouth was a thin line. That hint of sorrow was the strongest display of any emotion besides humor that Saguru had ever seen on the thief’s face. When the thief spoke this time, he was standing still, so the combination of half-heard sounds and what little lip-reading Saguru could manage provided him with the phrase “I understand, Edogawa-san,” before the thief started pacing again and drowned out his own voice with echoing footsteps.

Edogawa-san. As in a relative of Conan’s. Probably Conan’s parent*. Possibly the original Kid.

If that was the original Kid on the line, was this Kid calling for advice or just to inform the other about Conan’s injury. If that was – no, it took entirely too much effort to qualify that theory – had the previous Kid given advice that the current did not want to hear? There were too many mysteries to puzzle out at the moment that Saguru didn’t bother to wonder what had caused the thief to react emotionally. This child was probably like a brother to the thief, so it wasn’t terribly surprising that his emotions were too strong to hide for once.

A voice spoke in Saguru’s ear, from the phone he had almost forgotten he was holding. “Hakuba-san? The ambulance should arrive in under three minutes.”

“The ambulance should arrive in under three minutes,” he repeated to the rest of the room. Conan might have moaned quietly in response, or that might just have been Saguru’s imagination.

“Took them long enough,” grumbled the thief as he returned to the elevator lobby, typing rapidly on his phone. He glanced up at Saguru and the phone promptly disappeared. “We should really head downstairs. They’ll be waiting on us by the time we get there.” Kid snapped his fingers, and after a puff of smoke, a nondescript middle-aged policeman stood in his place. His suit was slightly rumpled and his wrists were far too thin for his body, but Saguru knew from experience that almost everybody would overlook those details.

Suddenly feeling very irritable with the thief for showing off, Saguru had to fight back a scowl. He still wanted the thief to trust him. He settled on a quiet sigh. “Who are you supposed to be now?”

Kid bowed politely. “Maki Hideki of the Kaitou Kid Task Force, at your service.” He turned the bow into a wide sweeping motion and scooped Conan into his arms before standing fully upright again, holding the child securely. One arm was hooked under the boy’s knees, and the other was under Conan’s left shoulder, across his back, and holding the boy’s head gently against Kid’s shoulder. “I will accompany you to the hospital of course, but since I don’t know the child well at all, I imagine I will go home and sleep off the excitement after his family arrives.” He smirked broadly at Saguru, making the meaning plain: he would replace this disguise with another that had reason to stay and care for Conan.

Saguru just barely remembered to play dumb. “His family? I think you mean his caretakers: Mouri Ran and her father Mouri Kogoro.”

Kid smiled enigmatically. “I’m sure they’ll show up too.”

"Maki-keiji" ensured that the child’s injured right arm was gently but securely resting across his stomach before he started walking. “Come on. The ambulance is probably waiting on us already,” the thief remarked over his shoulder, leading the way to the nearest stairwell.

Saguru nodded and followed, watching closely. The thief was walking with long, rolling steps and somehow keeping his torso very still so Edogawa was gliding smoothly along. Even as the thief descended the stairs, he still seemed to absorb all the movement of walking in his knees and hips so the injured child was not jostled. Saguru had to admit he was impressed at both the thief’s ability and his tenderness with the injured child.

 

Saguru could hear the ambulance siren coming to a halt in front of the building as he entered the stairwell himself. The dispatcher spoke in his ear again. “Are you still there, Hakuba-san? The ambulance should be arriving.”

“Yes, I’m here. We’re almost to the ground floor to meet them. Thank you very much for your help.”

Saguru hung up and put his phone back in his pocket where it should have been all along. He followed the disguised thief down the stairs and out the double doors. The crowd was already buzzing with horror and surprise at the ambulance’s presence, but it reacted to the sight of them with shocked gasps and the buzz of a renewed rumor mill. Saguru supposed the colorful evidence that Kid had performed first aid on the boy didn’t help the rumors.

 

* -san is a suffix used to show respect to both male and female people, so Saguru cannot even conclude which of Conan’s parents Kid is talking to.

~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

Another week. Another chapter. This chapter is surprising on all sorts of levels. First of all it's another longish one. It kind of sprang from mid-air early this week, and I worked it in to the wreckage of what was chapter Chapter 5 ¾ and made it better. But it wasn't about phone calls enough to keep calling it chapter Chapter 5 ¾, so it became chapter 6. I think it works a lot better than my first draft did.

That said, it's another chapter with lots of thought and not much action. I did promise a rabbit hole for Saguru to go down. What did you all think? I realize that the same idea appeared (and was quickly rejected) in an earlier chapter, so this weekend may see some minor edits to chapter 2 or 3, whenever that was, to reduce the detail there so it's not as redundant here. If I make changes like that, I'll update this note to say, so anyone interested can re-read the early chapters after they've been updated. However, it'll be minor updates to style, not plot, so it shouldn't hurt anyone's understanding to ignore those changes.

 

Well, I'm sleep deprived this week, so no funny commentary from me, at least for today.

There should be an update next week, but I'm taking the following weekend off (Nov 13, I think) because I'll be on a road trip. I'll remind you of that next week too, when I update, and then I'll be back to regular updates the following weekend. My buffer isn't as full as I would like it to be because other fanfictions took over my brain, so I've been focusing more on them. I've still got a few weeks worth of chapter-skeletons to prompt my memory, so I should be able to continue and get back ahead of the game.

As always, I love to hear your thoughts and honest reviews. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Talk to you again in the comments or next week.


	9. Chapter 7: Ambulance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'ed by the wonderful Kat who reads things at any time of night that I pester her. Her flexibility for this update is truly shout-out worthy.

A paramedic promptly collected Edogawa from Kid’s arms and laid him on the stretcher in the back of the ambulance. Edogawa looked very small on the adult-sized gurney, as the paramedic set him up with an adult-sized oxygen mask that dwarfed the child’s face, a saline IV to keep his blood pressure up, and a warm blanket to minimize shock.

While Saguru was distracted observing the child’s treatment, Kid somehow talked the other paramedic into allowing them to both ride along, even though neither one was Edogawa’s guardian. The police uniform had probably helped, and Kid even implied that it was Task Force policy not to go anywhere alone during a heist. “What if one of us was Kid, and trying to kidnap that boy? How would you know who to trust? We can’t both be Kid for sure.” That thief had some nerve. Regardless, with assurances that Edogawa’s family (guardians, really) would be on their way soon, the ambulance team had ushered Saguru and Kid into the back of the ambulance, away from prying eyes, and started driving.

Kid was now explaining to the paramedics what “they” knew about the wound. “Well, we found the child patched up like that, and Kid just leaving. I think he was waiting for someone to find them rather than leaving Conan-kun alone and injured. He left that note,” Kid gestured at the now-crumpled paper Saguru was still holding. Saguru held it out for the paramedic to examine as Kid explained. “Apparently the boy took a sniper round through the wrist at roughly 11:45 PM.” That was 11:48 and eighteen seconds, but Saguru didn’t interrupt to correct him. “We don’t know who was shooting or why.” _Liar_. Just like Kid had known the snipers were present, Saguru suspected Kid knew something about their identity and motive. He had shouted a warning no later than the gunshot had sounded, which meant with reaction time he had noticed something before the shot was fired, which meant he could at least guess the reason. Still, the police wouldn’t know those details without Kid telling them, and Saguru had promised not to out Kid, who was still rambling. “Kid applied the tourniquet within two minutes and predicts that Conan-kun passed out due to shock rather than blood loss, but the boy is small enough that Kid wasn’t sure. The note says Kid splinted the child’s arm as a precautionary measure because he couldn’t imagine the bullet passing through the kid’s arm without hitting bone and he didn’t know what else to do.” Kid trailed off, having nothing more to say, and Saguru finally examined the note to discover that most of those details had indeed been written down.

Kid suddenly grabbed the radio the paramedics used to talk to the driver, looking very serious. “Can I use this?” The paramedics looked at each other and shrugged. Kid’s police uniform was definitely giving him freedoms that a normal passenger would not have. He seemed to take the shrug as permission. “Excuse me, Driver-san? This is Maki. Please make sure you are taking us to the police hospital. I know Beika General is closer, but until we know more about the snipers that shot this child, we police want to keep him in protective custody, just in case.”

The driver’s grudging agreement squawked from the radio, and Saguru frowned thoughtfully. He could easily conclude that Kid expected the snipers to follow up and try to murder the child. But why had Kid and Edogawa treated the topic of snipers so lightly if they were so predictably vicious?

Saguru glanced back at Edogawa, who had a little more color in his cheeks, but still looked very small on the adult-sized gurney. The child’s eyes were open, but not quite focused. Saguru leaned forward. “Edogawa-kun?”

Edogawa’s eyes snapped to meet his, but before Saguru could say any more, one of the paramedics interrupted. “Edogawa-kun, you hurt your arm. Do you remember?” The child opened his mouth as if to say something, then seemed to notice the oxygen mask dominating his face. He nodded slowly instead, meeting the paramedic’s gaze while she was talking, but he also seemed unable to keep his eyes off of Saguru for some reason, an unreadable question written all over his face. “We’re in an ambulance, on the way to the hospital. You’re going to be fine,” the paramedic continued, drawing Edogawa’s attention again. “Do you need anything for the pain right now?” Edogawa nodded again and Saguru sat back, trying to keep out of the way while the paramedics fussed with his IV.

Meanwhile, Kid had pulled his phone out of a very flat pocket (probably out of his sleeve then) and was texting rapidly again. Saguru tried to see the screen without turning his head or otherwise appearing to be looking. That was no good. Kid, intentionally or not, had the screen at such an angle that all Saguru could see was the glare of the amblulance’s ceiling lights off the slick black screen.

Kid appeared to be about to put the phone away again when the screen lit up mid-motion. Saguru’s sharp eyes caught the contact name: “Little-Neechan” before Kid answered the phone. _‘Little Big Sister,’ huh?_ That was a peculiar nickname, but Saguru wasn’t worried about figuring out the name’s history. He wondered how Kid would react to being on the phone while in disguise and being closely watched by both a detective and the paramedics whom Kid, ironically, had warned about the risk of the disguised thief’s presence. The paramedics weren’t watching him per se, but they would certainly hear the conversation and be able to pick out inconsistencies.

“Hello?” In the small environment of the ambulance, sound echoed just enough that Saguru could tell that the person on the other end was speaking, but couldn’t make out any words. Kid interrupted the voice to say, “Yes, I was just texting you to let you know Conan-kun was injured. It wasn’t urgent enough to call you this time of night, since his parents have already been informed.” Kid let ‘Little Neechan’ finish speaking this time. “No, you don’t need to come. I’ve called Edogawa Daichi-san. He’s in town for once, but he didn’t expect to stay for long… Oh, but he said he hadn’t told anyone he was in town, so if you see him maybe you should pretend to be surprised. I _obviously_ didn’t tell you he was around.” Kid’s voice was light, and self-deprecating, just like anyone who was telling a friend a secret they shouldn’t share. But was the voice on the other end more terse than it had been? Saguru really wished he could make out the words. “Yes, that’s who I said I called.” So ‘Little Neechan’ questioned whether Kid had actually called Edogawa-san. That would bear pondering later. “Yeah, and he’ll meet us at the hospital. So unless you feel strongly, you don’t need to come until morning.” Another pause while Little Neechan spoke. “I expected nothing less of you. That’s why I let you know in the first place.” Hmm. So Kid texted to let someone know that Conan-kun would be in the hospital. He discouraged them from coming, but they would probably show up anyway. Well, that helped Saguru’s private mission of learning about Conan-kun’s relationship with the thief. What sort of people were friends with both Kid and Conan? Kid chuckled at whatever Little Neechan had said in response. “Precisely. Well, get some sleep tonight. I’ll text you again once he’s being treated at the hospital, okay? We’re still in the ambulance.” A much shorter response made Kid smirk. “Anytime. Bye now.” After another short pause, long enough for Little Neechan to say goodbye, Kid snapped his phone shut) although Saguru could have sworn the voice was still talking) and put it away before anyone else called.

Once Kid was off the phone, Saguru began to wonder about the strangest part of the conversation. Whoever Little Neechan was, she had questioned Kid’s assertion that he had called Edogawa Daichi-san. Why? It was possible she had just failed to hear the name, of course, but enough things were weird about Kid mentioning the guy that Saguru was beginning to wonder whether Edogawa-san really existed. He’d specifically used Edogawa Daichi’s full name. Obviously just saying “Edogawa” would be confusing because it sounded like Little Neechan knew Conan better than she knew his father, but surely a family friend (currently his best guess regarding the identity of Little Neechan) would have understood if Kid had just said “Daichi-san.” Maybe there was no one named Edogawa at all, and Conan was a psuedonym, and Kid had called an accomplice, perhaps even the original Kid to get advice, and was just using the name to communicate “Edogawa Conan’s father” to people who knew no such person existed.

Or maybe he was overthinking it. For someone as intelligent and prepared as Kid seemed to be, if he and Conan were working together to plant a Kid sympathizer in a detective’s household, surely they would have picked a less-obvious pseudonym than the names of two mystery writers. So perhaps Conan was the child’s real name, and he had kept it for some reason? Maybe…

“Is something wrong, Hakuba-kun?” Saguru’s head snapped up in surprise, and he realized Kid was giving him an appraising look after asking the question.

“Nothing, really. Just worried about Edogawa-kun.”

Kid-the-policeman nodded and flashed a knowing smile that was just a little too sharp. It sent a chill down Saguru’s spine. _He knows I’m analyzing that phone call._

Saguru was saved from trying to respond convincingly when the ambulance slowed and turned, bumping up onto what had to be a driveway.

One of the paramedics announced their arrival to the hospital, and Saguru steeled himself for paperwork and questions he didn’t know the answer to.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

Hello everyone. I'm back. Last-minute edits delayed this chapter again, and I hate that because I promised you guys a pair of chapters a week ago, and couldn't follow through. Regardless, it's up now, and available for everyone to read, and I'm mostly satisfied with how it turned out.

As an apology for the delay, not only do you get two chapters tonight, but the next "chapter" I'm posting (there will be a true chapter following) is the full text of the phone conversation in this chapter. It's not really a part of the story, but it can be amusing to compare what was actually said with Saguru's conclusions.

As usual, I love comments of all sorts. Praise, comments, or criticism is all fine. I'll babble at you more later when I publish the other chapters.

Happy reading, lovelies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry, everyone. That turned into a three-week delay instead of two. Some personal drama completely prevented me from even thinking about fanfiction last week Thursday, and I didn't really shake it off until Tuesday, by which point I was late anyway AND not done with editing these chapters.
> 
> Anyway. A bit of a survey that most of you probably missed because I added it to the fake chapter after the first several comments rolled in. It's still open if anyone cares to answer.  
> I'm trying to figure out when to publish a crossover fic I'm writing. Would you be more likely to read a crossover (there's no fic-writing presence in the second fandom, so I'm assuming that you won't be familiar with the other characters or their story) if it was
> 
> a) published all at once as a (potentially very long) complete story where all of the seemingly strange or irrelevant abilities of the new-to-you characters are used and make sense, even though you've never really seen the character before to properly appreciate their abilities so there's a risk that they'll seem more like a plot device than a character
> 
> b) published in short chapters like this one, so you have time to get used to the characters and discover the other fandom and the character's unmentioned past/interests/abilities that aren't relevant to the fic being written; starting sooner but posting irregularly so you don't know when the next chapter will appear
> 
> c) published in short chapters like this one (same benefits as b), but starting much later and posting regularly


	10. Bonus! Other perspectives (from chapter 7)

The previous chapter has been updated! Read that first.

  
This is just the script I wrote for the phone call that Saguru only heard half of in chapter 7. It doesn't have a scene written around it, but Saguru's deductions got a few details wrong and I always love to compare. Hopefully some of you will be amused by this. I'm including it mainly as an apology for posting a week later than I meant to when I owed you all two chapters. However, feel free to skip it if you don't want to interrupt the flow of the story. That's why this note is at the beginning of the "chapter."

I'll post the second (real) chapter I owe you in a few minutes. The chapter itself is fully ready to post, but I always spend obnoxiously long on the notes at the end. Thanks for your patience.

~~~~~~~

Ai: *calls*

Kaito: Hello

A: Kid, I wanted to [gets interrupted]

K: Yes, I was just texting you to let you know Conan-kun was injured. It wasn’t urgent enough to call you this time of night, since his parents have already been informed.

A: What about the Mouris then? You know he doesn’t stay with his parents. Do we need to come to the hospital to meet you?

K: No, you don’t need to come. I’ve called Edogawa Daichi-san. He’s in town for once, but he didn’t expect to stay for long… Oh, but he said he hadn’t told anyone he was in town, so if you see him maybe you should pretend to be surprised. I obviously didn’t tell you he was in town.

A: Edogawa Dai… Is that supposed to be Conan-kun’s father?

K: Yes, that’s who I said I called.

A: Bastard. Speak clearly. So did you call Kudou-san or did you just fake the call to someone. Are you going to be Edogawa-san? I was sure Kudou-san was still out of the country.

K: That’s right. He’ll meet us at the hospital. So unless you feel strongly, you don’t need to come until morning.

A: That didn’t answer my question idiot. And of course we’ll be there. But know that I will call the Kudous to make sure they know. If they don’t know about this and fake Conan-kun’s father differently, that’ll put everyone in danger.

K: I expected nothing less of you. That’s why I let you know in the first place.

A: I thought you were telling me so I didn’t panic about Edogawa-san being present when we both know he doesn’t exist.

K: Precisely. Well, get some sleep tonight. I’ll text you again once he’s being treated at the hospital. We’re still riding in the ambulance.

A: _That’s_ why you’re being so indirect. I thought that was just your personality. Well, thanks for letting me know.

K: Anytime. Bye now.

A: Bye, you [Kid hangs up] damn it. Stupid thief. Stay on the phone when I’m insulting you!


	11. Chapter 8: Waiting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The new content posted tonight begins at AO3's chapter 9/my chapter 7. Start there.
> 
> This chapter was also beta'ed by Kat.

When Mouri Kogoro and his daughter Ran entered the waiting area, Saguru stood up to greet them, suddenly realizing how stiff he had become. He and the still-disguised Kid had been sitting there for more than an hour as Conan-kun was treated.

Kid had initially filled the time by filling out new-patient registration forms for the boy. He explained to the nurse that checked on them that he had supervised the paperwork and waiver forms allowing the child to be at the heist in the first place. Saguru knew that no such paperwork existed; Inspector Nakamori would never approve the paperwork to let minors onto the site, so minors including Conan-kun and Saguru himself were always allowed there by apathy or oversight, never permission and paperwork. But the nurse didn’t suspect a thing, and it was a good excuse for why a random police officer would know the boy’s contact and insurance information. Saguru idly wondered how much Kid would be able to fill out for someone else. What if Saguru himself had been the one to get hurt; would Kid demonstrate the same familiarity with Saguru’s information? Here was a tangible piece of evidence demonstrating that Kid knew Edogawa Conan suspiciously well.

As soon as Kid and Saguru were alone in the waiting area, the thief had snatched Saguru’s phone and called Nakamori (with Saguru’s voice again, the bastard) to report that he and “one of your task force officers” had accompanied the child to the hospital, “so please inform Mouri-san and anyone else who needs to know that he is safe and being treated.”

Saguru, in the meantime, had been left with nothing but his own thoughts. He knew conceptually that a through-and-through bullet wound had a high risk of complications, that the wrist was complex enough that the child would be lucky to regain full function in it, and that it was necessary for the doctors to perform an MRI to examine the damage before starting surgery, and that it would take time to arrange the metal plates and pins that would temporarily rebuild Conan’s wrist until his body could heal around them. Still, it felt like he had been waiting forever hoping to hear that the child was stable and recovering.

Even after Kid had set the clipboard aside, Saguru found that he could not voice any of his questions. The pair had stared at each other for six minutes and eleven seconds before Kid broke the silence. “Tantei-san, should I ask why you found your way to the roof without stopping by my heist first?”

Saguru sighed. “I was hoping to catch you off-guard,” he admitted. He hesitated, torn between elaborating and asking the thief just what his relationship was to Edogawa. Kid probably wouldn’t give a straightforward answer even if he asked. “I saw the blood by the stairs and followed it to you by the elevator.” Saguru gently bit his own cheek to prevent himself from saying more. No point in admitting he had overheard the conversation on the roof.

“I see,” Kid muttered, studying Saguru with an intensity that made chills run down his spine. “And what’s your real motive for dragging me along to the hospital?”

“If I answer your questions, would you answer some of mine, or will you just tell me it’s my job to figure out the answers?” Saguru demanded, not answering the question.

Kid smirked. “You _are_ a detective, Tantei-san.” That would be a ‘no’ on the answers then.

Saguru couldn’t figure out how to respond, so silence had reigned again until the Mouris arrived.

Kogoro looked like he was trying to seem irritated and haughty, but Saguru could tell the man was worried for his charge. Ran appeared to be on the verge of tears. She brightened marginally when she recognized Saguru. “Hakuba-kun! Were you the one who brought him in? What do you know?”

Saguru glanced at Kid to make sure he was still in the room before including the disguised thief in his answer. “Yes, Maki-keiji,” Saguru gestured at the fake policeman and fought a scowl. Why was he lying for Kid? “and I found Conan-kun and called the ambulance and rode along. We didn’t waste time trying to find you two in the thirty-two story building without the elevators running; we just got him here as quickly as possible. It looked like Kid had brought him down from the roof to the third floor. Kid left a note that suggested that Conan-kun was hit by snipers. It’s only his wrist, but he’s been in surgery for one hour, four minutes and twenty-five seconds, which isn’t actually surprising but it is making me impatient.”

Kid nodded quietly, then got up slowly from his seat and stretched his arms over his head before he stepped up next to Saguru to bow and greet the Mouris. “That’s right. I’m Maki Hideki. It’s nice to meet you.”

 “It’s nice to meet you,” echoed Conan’s guardians.

“Oh!” Kid made himself look sheepish. “I filled out these papers for you with what information we could get out of Conan when he was awake. Would you make sure your insurance information and everything is right before we turn them in?” He grabbed the clipboard from the seat next to where he had seemed to be dozing off and presented it to Kogoro, who grumbled but accepted it.

Saguru was mildly surprised that the famous detective didn’t find Kid’s explanation suspicious, not even after skimming the whole packet which was mostly filled out. Kid had left a few random blanks, and when Saguru glanced over Kogoro’s shoulder as he filled in some of the remaining information, he was startled to realize that Kid had even imitated the detective’s handwriting almost identically. For some reason, Kogoro still had not expressed suspicion at any of this with words nor body language. The older detective was totally oblivious. The thief’s ability to mimic everything about this family continued to be suspicious. How well did he know them? Had Kuroba Kaito ever actually met the Mouri family? That could be a rare piece of evidence against the idea that Kuroba was Kid. Well, unless Kid was stalking them for some reason. Or coming to visit Conan in disguise. Maybe that thought wouldn’t lead anywhere. Saguru resumed his previous seat as he considered the evidence before him.

“Um, Hakuba-kun?” Ran interrupted his thoughts while taking the seat beside him. “Why didn’t anyone call us sooner to say Conan-kun had been hurt?” She sounded timid and upset, not accusatory, but even so, Saguru’s mind went blank with panic. He had only finished the phone call Kid had started, which prevented him from making others or even using the radio, and Kid had spent the time before the ambulance arrived calling Edogawa’s father. How could he explain that?

Fortunately, Kid stepped up to answer. “It was a terrible oversight, Mouri-chan. Hakuba-san called the ambulance and I assumed he would at least radio the rest of the police team to let them know. He assumed I would call them or you since he had to wait on hold with ambulance dispatch. I was busy reading Kid’s note explaining the first aid he had already performed and giving Conan-kun a once-over to make sure he was in no worse condition than we had been led to believe. It wasn’t until we were already sitting here and the kid was in surgery before we talked enough to realize we were the only ones who knew he was hurt. Other than Kid, of course. That’s when I called Nakamori-keibu and let him know. We are terribly sorry for the oversight.” He bowed another apology.

“Oh,” she murmured. They were all quiet for a moment before Ran spoke again. “I hope they have enough blood this time.”

“Huh?” Saguru’s undignified question burst from his lips before he could stop it, and he immediately regretted how vaguely he had expressed his confusion.

This time, Kogoro spoke up from the chairs against the far wall. “One time, when the brat got himself shot, the hospital didn’t have enough blood in his type to perform surgery immediately even though he needed immediate treatment. But Ran has the same blood type, so she donated some and that was enough for them to continue. Obviously he lived, the ungrateful freeloader.” Kogoro was definitely working hard to sound aloof, but his fond tone didn’t match the coldness of his words. The elder detective turned to his daughter, clearly remembering the previous time. “Oh, but Ran. I never did figure out. How did you know, that time, that you shared the brat’s blood type?” _She’s B- too? Interesting._ Saguru had heard Kid advising a nurse of the child’s rare blood type. The nurse, of course, had insisted on checking a sample anyway, just in case.

Ran’s cheeks gained the tiniest bit of color, and she hesitated before stammering, “Well… I… It doesn’t matter. I had a stupid theory and it was wrong anyway. B-but coincidentally Conan-kun and I do share the same blood type, so it was good that I was confused.”

Kogoro shrugged and went back to going over the completed paperwork, grumbling under his breath about bills and “that freeloader” but Saguru was intrigued. What sort of “stupid theory” would cause one person to draw conclusions about another’s blood type? What sort of theory would cause a person to correctly draw conclusions about someone else’s blood type? That depended on the blood type itself, Saguru supposed. A+ blood would be one thing, nearly half the people in the country had A+ blood including Saguru himself, but only about one in a thousand people in Japan had B-.

Before he mentally ran the numbers, Saguru had to ask, “I’m sorry, Mouri-chan. What did you say your blood type was?”

Ran gave Saguru an odd look, but answered the question. “I can never remember, but it’s really rare; that’s why the hospital was almost out last time.”

Well. That told him what assumptions he could make when doing a simple statistical analysis.

He ran through the facts he knew. There are eight blood types: A, B, AB, and O, each in rH-positive and negative varieties. The most common type in Japan is A+, followed by O+, B+ and AB+ in that order. The four negative types make up about half of a percent of the population of Japan, and as such, are rarely donated and frequently out of stock in Japanese hospitals. If both Mouri Ran and Edogawa Conan were type A+, then the correct conclusion could be attributed to random chance. In fact, without knowing either blood type, the chance that their types would match was just below 30% – higher than one chance in four. However, he knew that both had a rare blood type, and if Kid had been correct, they were both B-negative.

B- was the second most rare blood type in the country. With no other factors known, the chance that two unrelated Japanese people both had type B- blood was about one ten-thousanth of a percent* — a literal one-in-a-million chance. On the other hand, if you knew that both had a rare blood type and assuming that “rare” meant “rH-negative”, then it was back to about a 30% chance that two unrelated people would match. He couldn’t draw any statistically significant conclusions from that without knowing what Ran knew at the time, but any insight into Conan’s life would be interesting and perhaps useful in puzzling out his exact relationship to the thief.

“Hakuba-kun? Is something wrong?” Saguru shook himself and looked Ran in the face, realizing he hadn’t said a thing after her last statement. She still looked tired and anxious, but now he could sense that some of her concern was directed at him, not just Edogawa.

“No. I’m sorry again, Mouri-chan. I’m just tired and my brain is running away down rabbit holes.” He debated briefly whether to ask the obvious question, but continued. “If you don’t mind, what was your “stupid theory” that you claim was wrong? It seems unusual to me that a wrong theory would correctly predict such a rare blood type.”

In his peripheral vision, Saguru realized that Kid was looking straight at the teenage detective with his eyes narrowed and jaw tense. Was that fear? A warning? Kid definitely did not like that Saguru had asked that question. But such emotions seemed completely incongruous with Ran’s prior assessment that her theory was useless. It only reinforced Saguru’s desire to learn the truth of it.

Ran giggled nervously. “Are you sure? Like I said, it’s impossible.”

Saguru nodded. “Yes I’m sure. I’m always interested to hear about theories that give a correct result, no matter how strange they sound”

“No, I mean it’s really impossible.” She sighed and the sound somehow conveyed impatience and frustration and wistfulness all at the same time. “Just promise me you won’t laugh, okay?”

Saguru promised. Kid turned and started pacing down the length of the waiting area, appearing to just be stretching his legs. However, Saguru’s practice at reading the thief and a certain irritating classmate enabled him to recognize the tension in the thief’s padded shoulders. His footsteps did not echo like they should in the medium-sized space, and Saguru could tell Kid was listening for her explanation and any possible reactions.

“Well. It’s silly, but… The last time I saw Shinichi – that’s my childhood friend Kudou Shinichi – for any length of time was only a few hours before I met Conan-kun. And for the first few months, Conan-kun seemed so smart, and he was never in the room when Shinichi called or the few times Shinichi appeared, and somehow I convinced myself they were the same person, and I knew that Shinichi and I shared the same blood type after an incident when we were younger.” She paused, then laughed at herself, but quickly realized that Saguru was giving her words serious consideration. “No, I mean it. It’s impossible. The nurse said that Conan-kun had a rare blood type, and that reminded me of when Shinichi and I were both injured at the same time and we were also told we had a rare blood type. But they’re definitely different people. I’ve seen them in the same room four or five times now, and Shinichi will occasionally call with Conan-kun in the room, so it was just bad luck that he didn’t at first.”

Saguru glanced up at Kid, who appeared inexplicably fascinated with the paint just beginning to peel around the doorframe, then back down at Ran. “I see. Well… I suppose I can’t blame you for wishful thinking. Thanks for indulging my curiosity.” _I’m not really done with this inquiry, but Kid clearly wants me to let it go,_ he observed. Sure enough, as Saguru allowed Ran to steer the conversation to other things, Kid relaxed further and then came pacing back toward the group, his face almost too neutral. Surely “Maki-keiji” could hear from that distance, and ought to have been amused by the implausibility of Ran’s prior thoughts. _Something in there is too close to the truth for Kid, and I intend to find out what._

It wasn’t that easy of course. Saguru had heard that Conan was related to Kudou, of course, and if they really were related, then the probability of their blood types being the same was higher than random chance. Since Mouri had known that she and Kudou had the same blood type, then guessing that a relative of Kudou’s had the same blood type had… a chance that was nearly-impossible to calculate without knowing more of the variables, but it was actually fairly high depending on how closely related the child was to the teenage detective. All of the evidence except for Kid’s body language suggested that her theory was entirely off base. _What does Kid know?_

Well, before Conan had become famous by association with Mouri Kogoro and later for frequently thwarting Kaitou Kid, the Edogawa family had been basically unheard of despite the fame of Kudou Yuusaku as an author, his wife Yukiko as an actress, and their son Shinichi as a brilliant teenage detective. Paparazzi had tried and failed to find any other talented family members to report on, especially in the year or two preceding Shinichi’s disappearance. Perhaps it was a supposed to be a secret that Conan was related to the Kudou family? But was that an intense enough secret to make Kid visibly tense? It had to be more extreme than that.

One of the most popular series that Yuusaku-san had written was Night Baron. Saguru hadn’t read the series, but he knew the premise had something to do with a distinguished thief. What if the original Kid was Yuusaku’s brother or cousin? Or if the original Kid was female, then she could be Yuusaku’s sister and marriage would explain away the different names without either one needing to deliberately seek a name change to remain seemingly unrelated to each other. That would make Conan truthfully Kudou’s cousin but also explain their different names and why Edogawa had remained out of the limelight for so long. A secret on that scale would also justify Kid’s nerves at hearing Edogawa connected to Kudou Shinichi.

Saguru mentally shook his head. He was drawing ridiculous conclusions based on nothing but suspicion and speculation and his sleep-debt-fueled imagination. The late hour and a recent lack of sleep would only have contributed to his far-fetched conclusions. On the other hand, whatever the secret was, it had to be big for Kid to be so defensive of it, so extreme conclusions were more appropriate than simple ones. But, for this theory even more than before, there was a frustrating lack of hard proof. That’s why it was a theory still. Saguru would just have to wait and collect more evidence.

 

~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

*Percentages source: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type_distribution_by_country>

As a math nerd myself, I am frequently amused by how many different results you can get from the same probability distribution if you make different assumptions. Also, when I realized that the chances of two randomly selected Japanese people having type B- blood were exactly one in a million (based on the numbers I was working with), I couldn’t avoid having Saguru comment on it. Fortunately or unfortunately, he’s smart enough to know that you haven’t proven something just by phrasing a question badly and coming up with impressive-sounding numbers, so he hasn’t stumbled onto the truth just yet.

Hello faithful readers. I published you this update last week. I know. *hangs head in shame* But it's here now, so you can all let me know what you thought.

Editing was harder on these two chapters than on some of the previous ones. They've been sitting in my buffer, fully written for a while, but I added new minor scenes to both within the past two weeks, and part of chapter 7 wasn't even finished until tonight. I think what made the difference is that these were important scenes to set up the scenes that advance the plot, and I felt the need to make them more relevant because they were just bothering me. Anyway. I think I like how they turned out. We'll see if I still think so in the morning.

As usual, I love to hear any and all comments. Several of you encouraged me that you didn't mind waiting for these chapters. I really really appreciate your patience and understanding.

Actually, on that note, real talk: I currently have 2/3 of a chapter remaining in my buffer. I can probably get it finished and up on time next weekend, but I haven't really decided what filler scenes have to happen between that scene and the later plot-filled moments I have in mind (and until I figure out what HAS to happen, I can't make it interesting and relevant). I think we would all prefer I write quality content rather than just spitting out some bullshit scenes to have  _something_ to publish on Fridays. So I don't think I'll be able to continue with regular updates. So sorry lovelies. I love this story at least as much as you do, but I can't continue to keep up with weekly updates.


	12. Non-chapter update (taking prompts for one-shots)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life update. Cross posted to both my in-progress stories which people presumably follow. If you also follow Begin Again, my apologies for the redundant update

Not a chapter, but an update nonetheless.

I have now graduated from college, gotten married, moved, and started a new job. I finally have a regular enough schedule for mental health and therefore mental health enough for writing.

However, it's been so long since I've written anything that I want to start small rather than diving straight into my deep ongoing stories.

So

I'm taking requests for one-shots. Give me a character or a pairing and one or two sentences of prompt. I'll write something 200-1000 words for the top two or three to catch my interest and in doing so establish a time for me to write regularly.

Hopefully doing so means I'll be back to writing this story regularly by mid-April. Also since I'm not in the "have no local friends and nothing to do outside of work and have to hide from housemates so i fill all my free time with writing" sort of living situation that I was when I started writing Eavesdropping and promised to update weekly, I may have to drop to monthly, but I do hope to return to a regular posting schedule.

Send me the prompts here or to my tumblr account, @muggle-the-hat by next Thursday (March 23rd) and I'll announce which I've chosen on Friday evening, and start writing that weekend. They don't necessarily have to be DC related so if you'd like, send me an ask on tumblr to see if I'm also into the other fandom you want to prompt me for.

~~~~~~~

ETA: I got over a dozen prompts from this, and, due to time constraints (I want to get back to writing my main stories too), I'm holding to my promise of writing only the two or three my brain stuck to the most. Unless something changes between writing this update and writing the ficlets, those will be  


  * "Harry Potter ~~is reborn or~~ goes into hiding under the name 'Hakuba Saguru'"
  * "Heiji Hattori/Kudo Shinichi, coming out." (not necessarily how you'd expect)



and, if I have time

  * "Hakuba/Conan interactions; can be platonic or romantic, idc"  
this is hovering near the top of my list because I also really enjoy fics where they interact, especially with Kaito minimally involved, but anything I write will be heavily influenced by [MeridianGrimm](http://archiveofourown.org/users/MeridianGrimm/works?fandom_id=964594)'s fics featuring that pair, and I'll have to be sure I've got a solid idea of my own before I commit. ~~On the other hand, this might wind up happening in the Harry is Saguru fic, depending on how that works out.~~




	13. Chapter 9: Naps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is exhausted after the night they've had. Only some of them get to take a nap. Others find this drastically unfair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I couldn't bear to delete the previous non-chapter because I'm not sure what it'll do to the kind comments people left there. I may delete it later anyway to reduce non-story clutter, but I needed this to be a "new chapter" not an edit for any of you that get notifications)
> 
> As usual, I don't own any of the characters, and any mistakes are mine alone

Coffee. Kaito would kill for a hot cup of coffee now and he didn’t even particularly like the stuff. But it was nearing five in the morning and he had been awake for almost 24 hours and thanks to that stupid truce with Hakuba, he would probably have to stay awake for several more. Well, he shouldn’t really blame Hakuba. Kaito would have found some way to watch over Shinichi anyway, for fear of their enemies coming to finish the job and kill the apparent child, but this way he couldn’t even take a half hour nap before returning with a new face to protect his friend from true strangers. _And_ he was sure that Hakuba was studying him even now, so he didn’t dare let his guard down. When this mess wrapped up and blew over, Kaito was going to wait just long enough that it didn’t seem related and then prank Hakuba _so hard_ for contributing to his stress tonight. Last night. Whenever it was.

The subtlest of vibrations called his attention back to the present. When selecting a phone to carry as Kid, he’d chosen a phone with white plastic and the weakest vibrate mode he could find so the vibration wasn’t audible, and always kept it in a thin pocket just above his elbow so he could feel the weak vibration that wouldn’t make its way through denim or other solid fabrics. He mimed pulling his phone out of his pants pocket as he dropped it through his sleeve and into his hand, and opened his phone at just the right angle that didn’t make him look like he was hiding anything but still shouldn’t let anyone see the display.

_(1) New text from: Old Friend_

Finally. Jii was much slower than Kaito was at making realistic masks, and he would have needed to make a mask to look like Toichi before he could start on any sort of photo id, although he _was_ wonderfully talented at making flawless fake-ids, but if he was texting, hopefully he was done making both mask and ID.  Kaito thumbed the message open and read it quickly.

_Young master, I have procured the props you require. I do hope you will explain their necessity when you pick them up. I’m in the visitors’ parking lot, level two._

_On my way_. Kaito typed. _Tell me you brought coffee or something? It’s been a long night._ He tapped send and snapped his phone shut and slipped it back into the pocket in his sleeve before prying eyes could even try to see who he’d texted or what he’d said. They wouldn’t be Hakuba’s prying eyes at the moment, but Kaito wasn’t taking chances. The blond detective had his head leaning back against the wall, eyes closed, but he was entirely too tense to truly be dozing. Detective Mouri, on the other hand, was snoring loudly, slouched in the hard plastic chair, and Ran was fidgeting beside him. Her eyes kept fluttering shut, but she would keep flinching upright and glancing anxiously at the employees-only door to surgery or whatever that Conan had been taken behind, leaving them all to wait. A few seats down, Haibara Ai, or as Kaito preferred to think of her, the creepy little scientist, sat awake and still, her fists clenched in her lap. Her guardian, Agasa, was seated next to her, trying and failing not to doze, much like Ran was. Those two had arrived not long after Ran and Kogoro, and Agasa had mumbled something about having also been Conan’s guardian at one point, but no one had seriously contested his presence. Ran had only made a brief protest at the lack of sleep Haibara would get before the other not-child had coldly interrupted that she was worried too. Ran had dropped the issue, not wanting to push an emotionally-fragile child, Kogoro didn’t seem to care, and Hakuba had curiously followed Kaito’s lead of saying nothing and letting the negotiations play out.

Kaito desperately wished he had eyes on his shrunken friend, but since this was the police hospital, Kaito’s story about snipers with unknown motives had persuaded a few Division One officers to keep an eye on the surgery. He’d pretended not to recognize any of them, since his current disguise was a newbie in Division 2, but he’d picked carefully. Sato and Takagi were fond of Conan, trusting enough to believe the “worried newbie,” and of high enough rank to talk their way into being the ones to keep an eye on Conan, once they were suitably convinced of the danger. Best of all, Conan would recognize them so he could divert his paranoia toward actual potentially-dangerous-strangers. Despite Kaito’s worry, walking away for ten minutes could not possibly expose his friend to any more danger than he was already in.

Kaito stood up and stretched. “Well, as much as I would love to stay and make sure the kid is okay, I need to clean up and get myself ready for another day of work. Hakuba-kun, I’ll trust you to inform me of his recovery?” he announced, aiming the first sentence at no one in particular. He glanced around at his seated companions one more time. Mouri was still sleeping. Ran nodded blearily at his words, an acknowledgment or farewell. Haibara met his gaze for a moment with an intense stare of her own, silently asking if he was really leaving. He winked at her, hoping to convey that he would be right back with a new face. Whether or not she understood, she nodded curtly and turned her glare back to her own knees. Hakuba had opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow at Kaito when he turned to face his classmate.

“I will let you know, Maki-keiji,” Hakuba agreed mildly. “Um, the first person you called…?”

“Will arrive soon, I’m sure,” Kaito stated cryptically, unsure how much Hakuba had overheard. Well, he had made it clear to both Haibara and Hakuba that he would be appearing later as Conan’s father, so he could afford to drop another hint. “I think Conan will be pleasantly surprised to see him.”

“Yeah… I’m sure.” Hakuba agreed again, and Kaito could tell the detective was trying too hard to carefully pick his words to actually sound natural. Kaito decided to take pity on his classmate by not dragging it out. He turned and left the waiting room as quickly as he could without appearing to flee.

 

Jii was unimpressed when Kaito explained everything to him. Sure, he was also concerned for Conan, but he was dissatisfied with Kaito’s acceptance of Hakuba’s meddling and how Kaito seemed to be making a habit of allowing detectives he was fond of to get so close – too close.

He did, however, provide both coffee and a flawless disguise for one Edogawa Daichi. Kaito checked it all over as he donned the new disguise. (Clothes rumpled, presumably due to unexpected, late-night travel. Extra padding in the suit jacket to make his shoulders appear wider and less juvenile. Fake face, nitrile since so many people are allergic to latex – extra important in a hospital, with edges completely hidden by the collared shirt Jii had provided. Slight lifts in the shoes to make him seem taller. Wide-framed glasses that weren’t exact copies of Conan’s but close enough that one had clearly inspired the other) Jii provided it al with no more than a tired reminder to be careful. Jii knew when Kaito was going to out-stubborn him and didn’t waste the time arguing.

“I’ll call you in sick to school, young master,” Jii stated gently. “Don’t push yourself too far. As you’ve said, there are already many capable people keeping an eye on the young detective.”

“But they don’t know what to be careful of,” Kaito fretted, finally handing over the Ethereal Rainbow. “I think that’s the one, by the way. Keep it safe, and more hidden than usual.”

“Yes, young master, you’ve already said,” Jii agreed, but there was no bite in the words. “I’ll make sure it’s secure,” he assured Kaito, making the stone vanish in a puff of smoke as effectively as Kaito could himself.

“You’re the best, Jii-chan” Kaito muttered with no inflection, the opposite of his usual exaggerated cheer, but meaning it 100%. Jii’s slight smile showed that he understood. “I’ll check in with you about our _weather event_ in a few days, yeah?”

“Understood, young master,” Jii agreed solemnly, handing over Edogawa Daichi’s wallet. (battered leather, containing some cash, an IC card, and a photo id with Daichi in a different suit, much less wrinkled. They didn’t have time to fake a credit card and it wasn’t important enough to put off Daichi’s appearance in the hospital.) Kaito stowed the wallet firmly in a back pocket and Jii asked “Now, was there anything else you needed, or shall we part ways?”

 _I could really use a nap_ Kaito did not say. He should probably get back soon so he could be sure Hakuba didn’t say anything to identify him before he arrived. “No, that’s all. Thanks, Jii-chan.”

Kaito stepped away from the car and didn’t look back when he heard it sputter to life. He grinned brightly into the empty parking lot to force a little life into his eyes, and then let his half-disguised face settle back into a more somber, worried expression. He had a role to play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay wow, this took me for _ever_ to get back to, and has been put off by life and moving and other half-thought-out projects. (this one is like 80% thought out at least) If any of you have it bookmarked and are still waiting patiently for me: I’m impossibly grateful that you care that much about me and my whimsy. It means a lot.
> 
> I realize we didn’t get a ton of action here, but it was a necessary transition, and it’ll speed up again soon. For one thing, Edogawa Daichi isn’t the only person who’s about to join the crew waiting on Conan’s recovery. If anyone wants to guess, I do have someone picked out, but your guesses will amuse me and if you get it right you get… idk, bragging rights I guess. ~~Or cookies. You know, from AO3… but I guess you already have those if you're logged in~~
> 
> Time for some personal notes though:
> 
> I unfortunately cannot promise a regular update schedule. When I was actually mostly accomplishing that, I was in a shitty enough living situation that I would come home from work and lock myself in my room to write every afternoon, and then sneak out to make dinner or at least eat a spoonful of peanut butter once everyone else was in bed. Since my living situation is much better now, I have significantly more things vying for my attention and time, but I still try to write frequently. Maybe once I get my mental health taken better care of (it’s partially managed, but not perfectly) I’ll be able to finish one chapter and then another instead of flitting around between eight in-progress stories and never finishing chapters on any of them, which is really what it’s been for the past several months: not a lack of writing, just a lack of coherent storytelling on a single story enough to publish anything.
> 
> That’s it for the personal stuff.
> 
> Yes, the fics I took prompts for are in progress. They’re in varying stages of completion, although I may rewrite one entirely because I got halfway done before I realized I didn’t like where it was going enough to come up with an ending. I try to only publish things I’m proud of after all. And I’m sorry that what I intended to be quick prompts I wrote and published within a week are still just teasers after a few months. They’re also coming, on my unfortunately unpredictable timetable.


End file.
